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The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is not collapsing but rather growing healthier and stronger, Mr Alfred Agamah, Sunyani Municipal Scheme Manager has said. He stated that the national claims payment trend since it started in 2005 is increasing astronomically from GH₵7.60 million to GH₵35.48 million in 2006, GH₵79.26 million for 2007, GH₵183.01 million in 2008 as well as GH₵362.64 million in 2009. In 2010 the scheme recorded an increase of GH₵397.61 million and GH₵550.72 million in 2011 while the total national payment for January to June 2012 stood at GH₵ 269.62 million. Mr Agamah said by December 2008, newly registered clients for the Sunyani Municipality were 20,571 while registration renewals stood at 46,927. By the end of October there were 23,647 new registrations and 61,837 renewals of registration. The total number of membership under the Municipal Scheme as at October 2012 was 85,484, an increase of 38.24 per cent from December 2008. Mr Agamah made the observation at the Municipal and Satellite Health Insurance Schemes stakeholders performance review meeting for the second and third quarters of 2012 on the theme: �NHIS Growing Healthier and Stronger� at Abesim near Sunyani. He said for 2012 the scheme paid GH₵656,569.65 as claims to Service Providers as at July, and is currently in the process of making further payments of GH₵676,129.37 for August-September 2012 for claims submitted. Mr Agamah outlined wrong application of tariffs, irrational prescription of medicines, inflation of quantities of medicine supplies, provision of services above accreditation level and over-billing of medicines as some of the key challenges confronting the Scheme. Meanwhile the Brong-Ahafo Regional office of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has confirmed to the Ghana News Agency that the Municipality has a population of 123,224 based on the 2010 Population and Housing Census summary report. The final result of the census was published by the GSS in May 2012. This implied that the 85,484 total membership of the Municipal Insurance Scheme represented 69.37 per cent of the population of Sunyani.