General News of Thursday, 23 February 2017

Source: GNA

Government will fix delays in paying health insurance claims - Letsa

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, has pledged government’s commitment to fixing delays associated with the reimbursement of health insurance claims.

“…government is not unaware of the difficulties health facilities are going through due to long delays associated with the reimbursement of health insurance claims…and we will fix this challenge,” he said.

Dr Letsa was addressing a Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) Policy Dissemination meeting in Ho, on the theme: “Accelerating the Attainment of Universal Health Coverage and Bridging the Inequity Access Gap.”

He said government was concerned about the healthcare of the citizenry and working around the clock to achieve improved health outcomes in all health indicators.

Dr Letsa described CHPS as the backbone of primary healthcare delivery in communities in the Volta Region despite the decline in some health indicators.

He said the concept had impacted positively on the health of the population, especially mothers and children in rural communities, and that no effort would be spared in making it work better for maximum benefit.

Dr Letsa said the concept, for instance, had improved Out-Patient Department attendance, post-natal care, immunisation and family planning and called for concerted efforts to address inadequacies and deficits in the policy.

Mr Barnabas Yeboah, the National CHPS Co-ordinator, said the CHPS concept had gained international recognition and appealed for support towards universal coverage.

He said the revised CHPS concept would provide reproductive and adolescent health services with midwives stationed at the CHPS zones for supervised deliveries.