More than 300 residents of Ogbojo, a suburb of Accra have been registered on to the National Health Insurance Scheme for free. The residents also benefited from a free medical screening organised by the Restoration Community Chapel.
The gesture was in line with the Church’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and formed part of its 12th anniversary activities. It was organised in partnership with a non-governmental organization, Doxa Women of Substance.
Speaking in an interview with the media, Rev. Eric Okpoti-Paulo, the Branch Pastor, Restoration Community Chapel, explained that beyond the spiritual needs of its members and the community at large, it was also concerned about the physical well-being of the people.
“We notice that even though we’ve been part of East Legon, there are a lot of urban poor people here, a lot of squatters here – we have them in our church so we know, and often, people come, they are sick and they go to the hospital with no money.
“So, I thought to myself that with NHIS you’ll think the money is small but they can’t even afford it. So, we took advantage of our 12th anniversary and decided that we will, as our social responsibility, also help in the little way that we can, to give 200 adults and 100 children the opportunity to be registered,” he said.
He added that: “Even though we said 200, we estimated that we may be able to take care of about 300 to 400 people.”
Rev. Okpoti-Paulo was optimistic the exercise would enable many of the community members to easily access health when they needed it.
“There are a lot of deprived people in the community, who can be described as urban poor and this exercise is to help them as part of our social responsibility to them,” he said.
Some people were diagnosed with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. “This is the second time the church has organised such an event and there are plans to continue helping the community in other relief areas,” Rev. Okpoti-Paulo explained.
“We are also planning to teach people how to make beads and other items in order to financially equip them so that they can support their children, partners and families,” he added.
Rev. Okpoti-Paulo called on the government to strengthen and equip the Department of Social Welfare to ensure it provided the needed assistance to persons who were in need.
Philip Santah, a Client Attendant at Madina NHIS Office, debunked the assertion that the NHIS was not working, and urged Ghanaians to enroll onto the platform to reduce the financial burdens associated with accessing healthcare.
GNA
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