Forum on implementation of Health Insurance opens

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health, on Tuesday said 800 billion cedis would be needed to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is scheduled to take off by the end of the year.

He said the central government would provide 500 billion cedis whilst the rest would be taken care of by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and premium of 2,000 cedis per head per month by recipients and the district assemblies.

Dr Afriyie was opening a two-day national forum of stakeholders and Mutual Health Organisations (MHO) on the implementation of NHIS.

The forum would enable participants to plan strategies on how to fund NHIS at the district level.

He said government could not finance the fund alone and needed the hands of everybody including the communities to make the scheme a success.

The Minister said "the cash and carry system if abolished would increase the number of people accessing health care services by three fold and would over stretch the funds and resources of the government ".

Dr Afriyie called for a shift of power from government to the communities and urged the district assemblies to take the responsibility of funding extra expenses at their level.

"Examine your constitutions, budget and other programmes and see where you can fit in the funds for the scheme", he said.

Mr Joseph H. Mensah, Senior Minister of State also called for transparency in the system and the methods of financing since the scheme involves the lives of people.

He said people would not want to loose their lives, "therefore they would like to spend the little they have to prevent them from dying".

Mr Mensah said the health situation of the country was not the best due to the mass exodus of health workers to find greener pastures.

He said to restore the health status of the nation, 'we need to spend more, address the problems of the health personnel as well as the pharmaceutical industries who provide the drugs for the health facilities.

Mr Kwesi Amo, a Consultant on the NHIS, said the Service has introduced a Co-payment and identification system, as a technical way of controlling fraud in about 15 pilot districts.

He said the system allows one to undertake post attendance and evaluations, adding, "this system when adopted would ensure quality care, affordability and sustainability of the scheme".

Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, the outgoing Minister of Local Government and Rural Development who presided, called for collaboration between the district health directors and the assemblies for the success of the programme.

He suggested to participants that at the district level, collection of the premium could also be in kind since most of the recipients could not afford paying cash.