LED by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has been able to resolve 6,000 issues through its outreaches across the country.

This was according to Dr Singh on Thursday, during an outreach led by President, Dr Irfaan Ali at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).

Several agencies within the various ministries had booths set up at the venue to provide services to residents of the region.

The NIS booth by Thursday afternoon had resolved about 61 issues presented by residents. This booth will be open to the public again today, until 19:00hrs to help resolve more issues.
The National Insurance Scheme conducted its own outreaches in Regions Two, Four, Five, Six and 10.

Minister Singh, in October 2022, said that the government expects to see improvements in the services offered by the NIS.

He also mentioned that he had done several public outreaches in collaboration with NIS in order to clear the backlog of cases that the scheme has had over the years.

Dr Singh related that those outreaches, which have been on pause for quite some time, would continue in order to troubleshoot and handle the backlog of cases that may still exist.
“I am, once again, tasking the NIS, its board, its management and its staff to make the rapid transformation that is necessary to eliminate the need for these outreaches,” he said.
To this end, he added that the quality of services that have been provided at these outreaches can easily be provided at the local offices across the country.

Dr. Singh said that it is important to have continuous training efforts in order to build capacity within the scheme.

Further, he urged NIS to continue the roll-out of technological solutions and ways in which they can reduce the accumulation of backlogged cases.

Meanwhile, the minister said that while a number of persons come forward to enquire about contributions and more, every contributor should receive a statement every year in order to handle any discrepancies seen.

“Every contributor should get a statement once a year and be encouraged to regularise and fix any gaps that they observe, so they can go immediately to their employer,” Dr Singh said.