Close to 11,000 NIS claims now resolved

Jul 19, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Some seven months after the new Board of Directors of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) was appointed, about 11,000 claims from citizens have been resolved and efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding backlog.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said this on Saturday on the sidelines of an outreach activity at the Giftland Mall. This outreach was organised by the NIS to meet with residents on the ground, and listen to their concerns in relation to any issues they may wish to address with the scheme.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh engaging with citizens on the NIS outreach held at the Giftland Mall on Saturday.

“This outreach is part of our government’s efforts to address a large stock of inherited challenges with the NIS,” the Minister said, adding, “When we came into government, we recognised this is an issue that required very urgent attention.”
Illustrating the urgent attention needed, he said, was the thousands of outstanding claims which have been a cause for frustration for citizens who contribute to the insurance scheme. And as such, he said the body has been zeroing in on these unresolved claims to reduce the backlog.
Dr. Singh highlighted that one specific issue that has been of particular concern was the challenge with the untimely processing of life certificates. On average, there were about 3,000 certificates that were not processed in a timely manner, this would result in a pensioner obtaining their pension late, or even dropping off the pensioners but, the Finance Minister said, “We have now reduced that to zero.”
That reduction, he explained, was a direct result of a new intervention employed by introducing WhatsApp video calls to have pensioners who live in Guyana and abroad verify their life certificates intermittently. Dr. Singh, however, said that the body has to continue its work to reduce the backlog of claims and resolve concerns, since there may be a large number of citizens who may not have even been able to register their complaints, much less get those matters resolved.
It is for this reason, Dr. Singh said, that President Dr. Irfaan Ali mandated him to implement a nationwide series of outreach events to make the NIS’s services more accessible to the people. These outreaches are being done at convenient locations, such as the Giftland Mall, to address a diverse range of complaints and concerns.
According to a recent press release from the Ministry of Finance, the matters to be dealt with at the outreaches include, compliance certificates, contribution statements, registration and replacement of NIS cards, signing and submission of life certificates, submission of claims and benefits, and pension queries.
On Saturday, about 13:00 hrs., it was reported that some 60 people had already been engaged on a myriad of concerns, and left very satisfied. Still, Dr. Singh said, that the outreach efforts will continue until the “accumulated stock of issues” will have been reduced significantly.
Yesterday the Minister and his teams from the Ministry of Finance and the NIS, were on the ground addressing the citizen’s concerns at another outreach at the car park in Parika, Region Three.

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