What the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) needs to better able it to serve the needs of the public is more training in the area of customer service and a cultural shift in the work ethic, said Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
He made the comments while at an NIS outreach at the Mon Repos Primary School, East Coast of Demerara, at the weekend.
There, Minister Singh posited that “…there is room for customer service training and I have raised that with the Board and the Board agrees fully that there is room for training in rules and procedures and options that are available for addressing disputes.”
“We need a cultural change in the NIS,” the Minister added.
“A change that focuses more on addressing people’s concerns in a more timely manner, so that we get to the point where we do not need a big outreach like this, but in fact people can walk into any NIS office and get that quality of service and that is where we want to get.”
The Senior Minister had been at the forefront of several outreaches across the country, aimed at resolving year-long issues with NIS.
In fact, Minister Singh, at the outreach, presented Michael Parris, Guyana’s only Olympic medallist, with his pension book, ending his three-year wait to access his benefits.
After Parris raised his concerns at a previously held outreach, the Finance Minister and NIS officers were able to quickly resolve his issue.
Parris said: “It is couple years I was not getting it and I always pray and ask God to let the dream come through and it come through when I met Minister Ashni Singh.”
“People who hear about this thing should come down and they get quick attention than when you are going to NIS. Here, you get through fast,” he said.
Those who visited the outreach came to address varying concerns relating to compliance certificates, contribution statements and payments, registration and replacement of NIS cards, signing and submission of life certificates, submission of claims, among others.
