Boamah ignorant of state of NHIS - Ex-KATH CEO

Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, lacks knowledge of the current situation the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) finds itself in, hence his assertion that the scheme has not collapsed, Dr Nsiah Asare, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, (KATH) has said.

According to Dr Nsiah Asare, more Ghanaians were registering unto the scheme purposely to obtain the card for other purposes, rather than to seek healthcare.

His comments follow claims by Dr Boamah that the NPP was being hypocritical about the NHIS because it trumpets the scheme as a failure, yet labels it as its achievement, registering its members onto the supposed collapsed scheme.

At a press conference on Monday, Dr Omane Boamah said: “Is it not ironic that the health insurance scheme, which some politicians tout as having collapsed has today become a major campaign tool for some members of parliament…? And you hear them boast of the number of constituents they have enrolled onto the scheme. Which is which? Has the scheme collapsed or not? If it has collapsed, why are they being so wicked to their constituents that they will enrol them on a scheme that they believe has collapsed?”

He also insisted that the Mahama-led government had invested heavily in the scheme as compared to the NPP government, which started it.

“We have paid the highest amount to service providers. In 2015, we paid over one billion cedis, which has increased remarkably from the very modest payments of the earlier years such as a paltry GHS183 million under the NPP government. Out-patient utilisation alone stood at over GHS29 million in 2015, having increased tremendously from just above GHS9 million as at 2008. These are the facts,” he argued.

But speaking in an interview with Accra News’ Katakyie Obeng Mensah on Tuesday November 29, Dr Nsiah Asare said: “It seems Dr Omane Boamah is not abreast of the current situation on the ground with the NHIS. Today as we speak, when you go to the government hospitals, including Korle-Bu, Ridge and others, and health centres, NHIS cardholders are paying for the services they are receiving from those hospitals.”

He added: “When the [National] Health Insurance [Scheme] came in 2003 and started operating in 2005, it covered treatment of about 95 per cent of diseases in the country and the medications given to the patient, but now the government is not paying the service providers.

“The Act that established the NHIS said within 60 days the NHIS-accredited hospitals should be paid their claims, but as we speak, the government owes some of the service providers a year’s arrears. Those who have been paid this year were paid as far back as February 2016. And so the service providers are filing for bankruptcy, because they have not been paid. This is an indication that the NHIS has collapsed.

“People are registering onto the scheme not because they want to seek health treatment with it, but because they want to obtain the card for other purposes. It is easy to obtain and so people prefer to register and get the card.”

Dr Asare further stated: “We have just one week to go to the polls to change this government that has collapsed all the initiatives introduced by the NPP.”