Residents of island communities in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District are set to have easier access to National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) services after the Eastern Regional Minister commissioned a 22-seater fibre boat for outreach activities.
The boat, commissioned at Zikpo Nyuinyui, will enable NHIS officials to travel across the lake to communities including Dwarf Island, Digya Island and Dodi Island, where residents often face difficulties accessing public services because of their location.
The new boat is expected to make it easier for officials to provide services such as NHIS registration, membership renewal and other community outreach programmes without residents having to travel long distances.
Eastern Regional Minister Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey said the geographical challenges faced by people living on the islands should not prevent them from accessing essential public services.
“For residents of the island communities, accessing essential services can be challenging because of the distance and the lake,” she said.
She said the boat would improve the mobility of NHIS officials and allow the scheme to take its services directly to communities that are difficult to reach by road.
“This is an important step towards ensuring that where people live does not become a barrier to accessing public services,” the minister said.
For many residents of the island communities, the lake is not simply part of the landscape but a major factor in how easily they can access services available to people on the mainland.
The Regional Minister said improving transport across the lake would therefore help make NHIS registration, membership renewal and other outreach services more accessible to residents who might otherwise have to make long and difficult journeys.
The intervention is also expected to support efforts to extend health insurance coverage to remote communities and ensure that people living in difficult-to-reach areas are included in the delivery of public services.
Ms Awatey commended the District Chief Executive for Kwahu Afram Plains North, Kate Mawusi Babanawo, the NHIS and other stakeholders for their contribution to making the boat available.
The commissioning marks another effort to address the geographical barriers that have made access to public services difficult for communities scattered across the lake in the Kwahu Afram Plains area.
