Contributors to Guyana’s National Insurance Scheme (NIS) have long faced challenges when accessing services at the agency. But those difficulties will soon be abated as a number of drastic changes are underway says Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC. These changes he said, will simplify the process of providing benefits for contributors.
During his weekly televised programme ‘Issues in the News’, Minister Nandlall said government will make a series changes to ensure individuals who qualify for NIS receive the benefits to which they are entitled under the NIS Act.
He noted that the government is uprooting any hurdles, administrative or otherwise, that are preventing this objective from being realised, and making the process more accessible to a wider cross-section of Guyanese entitled under the scheme.
Over the past two years, the government has made administrative changes to intensify efforts to clear the backlog of matters that were pending and improve the services to contributors. Minister Nandlall cited an example where many people go to NIS, and their documents cannot be found. The government has stated that once individuals have worked in the public sector, and that can be established, there is no need for documents. Minister Nandlall further stated that there are many little rules like this that have been implemented to ensure that persons are not unfairly denied or deprived of their entitlements under the NIS.
The NIS, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Finance, has conducted several outreaches over the past two years. Last month, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Singh, revealed that NIS has been able to resolve some 6,000 issues through its outreaches countrywide.
In October 2022, Minister Singh made it clear that the government expects to see more improvements in the services offered by the scheme.
