Prison officers, inmates to enjoy free registration

Fourteen thousand prisoners and officers of the Ghana Prisons Service across the country are to enjoy free registration under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The exercise to register the prisoners and the officers free of charge began at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on Thursday, under the auspices of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
Some of the inmates who spoke to the Daily Graphic at the official opening of the exercise expressed their profound gratitude to the government for the initiative, noting that it would go a long way to reduce the burden on their relatives and the prison authorities for their upkeep and medical care.
The Chief Executive of the NHIA, Mr Ras Boateng, in an address read on his behalf to officially open the exercise, noted that the exercise would not cover only the inmates and the prison officers but also children of the officers who were below 18 years.
“The government has also extended the scheme to cover the entire staff of nearly 5,000 of the Ghana Prisons Service, as well as their children under 18,” he emphasised, adding that although the personnel were covered by the service conditions of the security services, the government had decided to enrol them into the scheme because their work involved a high health risk.
He said the government had allocated an amount of GH¢181,934 to cover the first phase of the exercise, under which prisoners in the various jails across the country were to register with the District Mutual Health Insurance schemes in their geographical areas.
Mr Boateng stated that new convicts would also be covered as soon as they entered the prisons, saying those who would be released would still continue to enjoy the free health care until their health insurance expired.
He urged ex-convicts to acknowledge the importance of the scheme and get themselves registered by paying the minimum premium with their district schemes and stressed that ex-convicts who had no means of livelihood and no dependants could register under the scheme.
He said the National Health Insurance Council and the NHIA saw the exercise as a God-send opportunity to contribute to the much needed prison reforms to make life a bit more comfortable for those who found themselves in prison. He advised the inmates to live healthy lives and avoid dangerous lifestyles such as taking hard drugs and indulging in unprotected sex among themselves.
Mr Boateng appealed to the prison authorities not to waste time in sending prisoners to hospital now that they were all being registered under the scheme.
He said before the year ended, Parliament was expected to pass a law to enable the scheme to register children below 18 without attaching them to their parents and appealed to Ghanaians to be patient with the authority as it took steps to improve and sustain the scheme for the benefit of all.
The Director of Welfare of the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS), Mr Israel Kwabla Tsegah, on behalf of the service expressed appreciation for the government’s intervention, noting that the initiative was a great relief to the service, which had depended on civil society organisations and relatives of inmates for support.
The Scheme Manager of the Akuapem South Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, Mr Chris Pobi, also advised the inmates to embrace the scheme and ensure that they all register.