"Cash & carry" can't be abolished, without ... -VP

... finding a more effective and efficient alternative

Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President, said on Friday the cash and carry system, though has created problems of inequities and access barriers to health care, it could not be abolished without finding a more effective and efficient alternative to cost recovery.

He said it was to avoid the pitfalls bedevilling that system that painstaking efforts were being made to ensure that the proposed national health insurance to replace it was well thought out and properly regulated.

Alhaji Mahama was launching the Ashanti Region Civil Servant Medical Care Scheme at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi. The Vice President said the situation where the majority of the people in the country, due to poverty and low income, were unable to afford health care was unacceptable.

He said Ghanaians deserved a comprehensive scheme that would give quality health care to all and protect them against the high cost of medical care. Vice President Mahama announced that the draft legislation of the National Health Insurance was now ready for Cabinet approval.

"Effective, accessible and equitable health financing can help raise productivity and lead to wealth creation and poverty reduction." He commended the Ashanti Region civil servants for their initiative and asked those managing the scheme to ensure that they performed with dedication.

He said the scheme could become a shinning example that would be replicated in other regions. Mr Moses Dani-Baah, the Deputy Minister of Health, said the ministry was promoting the formation of Mutual Health Organisations (MHOs) to ensure a gradual phasing out of the cash and carry system.

He said 40 MHOs would be put in place before the end of the year, adding that the government was determined to see to it that there was equitable and universal access to health care without pocket payment at the service point.

Mr Charles Asamoah Dwomoh, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Civil Servants Association, said the scheme that was started last year was benefiting 15,000 civil servants and three of their family members. Mr Dwomoh said premium deductions were smooth as contributions were deducted at source.

The Regional Chairman appealed for support by way of donation of computers, fax machines and photocopier to enable them to efficiently manage the scheme. He praised the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the Partnership for Health (PHR-Plus), a non-governmental organisation for the material and technical support for the scheme.

The Management Committee of the scheme is under the chairmanship of Dr Joseph Oduro while the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, heads the technical board.