Mr. George Oppong Dankwah, Bono East Regional Director for the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has commended the government and its health partners for increasing the number of diseases that could be captured by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Mr Dankwah hinted that the NHIS now covers over 95 per cent of diseases, such as child cancer to ensure ultimate health care to all people particularly the vulnerable in society. Mr Dankwah disclosed this on Wednesday at the Mount Carmel Girls Senior High School in Techiman, during a blood donation exercise organised by the National Health Insurance Authority to commemorate its 20 years of operation in the area. He said the blood donation exercise was purposeful to support the National Blood Bank with enough blood to help save people who could not afford blood at critical moments since blood was a major component needed timely in the health sector. He noted that the scheme since its introduction in the region has worked efficiently over the years to break the gap between the rich and the poor on health issues and at times go to the extent of feeding clients on admission at the health facilities. Mr Dankwah emphasized that health insurance was in to support health delivery and was far better than the cash and carry system and therefore wished everybody get enroll to access timely and quality health care services He commended students and staff of the Mount Carmel Girls Senior High School who voluntarily donated about 200 units of blood to the National Blood Bank through the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman. Mr Samuel Afful Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Blood Bank at Holy Family Hospital in Techiman lauded the initiative as it would go a long way to support the bank and save more lives in the area. According to Mr. Afful, the exercise gave donors a chance to donate and would also help them know their blood groups and encourage them to continue donating to the bank. Miss Michelle Ababio, a third-year student at the school, expressed j oy for donating her blood to save someone's life and hoped more of such exercises would be organised to always fill the blood bank with more blood in saving people from unfortunate deaths. Source: Ghana News Agency