AN outreach by a team from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), led by its General Manager, Holly Greaves, was able to resolve a backlog of issues that was affecting residents on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

Greaves and her team were able to speed up the pension process for contributors by logging into the NIS system during the outreach which was held at the local office in Anna Regina on Thursday last. During an interview with this newspaper, Greaves said that the team’s visit to the region was a follow-up to President Irfaan Ali’s outreach. During the Head-of-State’s outreach, scores of residents had complained about NIS issues.

Meanwhile, Greaves described Thursday’s outreach a success, noting that over 25 issues were resolved immediately.
“My team and I were able to settle almost 90 per cent of the issues. What is good about this outreach is that we were able to get some of the people to go home to get their documents that were required to complete their applications. A lot of matters required name changes and evidence of name changes,” Greaves said.

Because of the team’s effectiveness, new applicants can expect their pension as early as next week. The General Manager said that officers at NIS are working assiduously to clear the huge backlog of cases. Greaves explained that her office recognised that social security is important, and, as such, efforts were being made to correct deficiencies in the system.

“Those persons who made claims for survivor benefits were also able to bring in their documents to the team; over 25 persons came and we were able to attend to them,” Greaves said.
Accompanying the NIS team was a Board Director and Chairman of the Public Relations Sub- Committee, Gillian Burton. Similar outreaches will be conducted in the Bartica region this week.