Nearly 90,000 self-employed individuals have registered as members of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to receive healthcare since the programme’s inception on November 14, according to a senior official of the fund.

Heng Sophannarith, deputy head of the NSSF, stated on December 11 that since the launch of the programme, the organisation and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training have advocated for self-employed people to register for membership. 

The target demographic includes vendors, tuk-tuk drivers, motodups and immediate family members of existing NSSF card-holders.

As of December 11, a total of 88,005 new members have been registered, of whom 84,865 are vendors and tuk-tuk drivers, while the remaining 3,140 are family of existing members.

“NSSF is increasing our advocacy to reach a larger number of people, such as the general public and workers, especially those who are self-employed. We aim to make them clearly understand the health scheme through voluntary contributions, which the government recently launched,” he explained.

Vorn Pov, president of the Independent Democratic Informal Economy Association (IDEA), welcomed the health plan for the self-employed and the high number of new memberships among them. 

He urged the fund to enhance the quality of service that members receive at partner health clinics and hospitals.

“Their service should be both high-quality and prompt, and they should also expand the range of hospital partners. This is to ensure that NSSF members fully benefit from their contributions,” he said.

The labour ministry reported that since the programme’s commencement, it has conducted 4,000 awareness-raising campaigns to educate the public about its benefits, reaching 1.2 million people. The effort, which began on November 15, is set to conclude on December 15.