Minister speaks on Mutual Health Insurance Scheme

Akropong Akuapim, March 11, GNA - Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health, had said the proposed minimum package for the district-wide Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) by the Ministry had a social touch to address the issue of poverty and access health care delivery. He said, "the proposal sought to provide protection for the poor through cross subsidisation from the better off in the communities to the poor."

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of the Akuapim North district MHIS at Akropong Akuapim on Wednesday. The Akuapim North District became the second district to launch MHIS in

the Eastern Region after the Kwahu South District. Dr Afriyie said the launching of the scheme had given the government the hope of bringing the health insurance to the doorsteps of the people.

He said to help accelerate the rate of work in the establishment of the district-wide health insurance scheme, the government had provided an amount of 41.6 billion cedis to support the establishment of the scheme in all districts.

Dr Afriyie said the second draft of the legislative instrument on the health insurance scheme had been completed and awaiting review by the National Technical Committee (NTC), Stakeholders and the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC), which would soon be inaugurated before it would be placed before Parliament.

He explained that the 2.5 per cent workers contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), that would be used to support the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), would serve as workers contributions both during working life and retirement.

Dr Afriyie reiterated that despite the contribution of 2.5 of the health insurance fund, workers contributing to the SSNIT fund would receive their full pension benefits on retirement.

Mr Gustav Narh-Dometsey, the deputy Eastern Regional Minister, stated that the health insurance scheme was not meant to replace "cost recovery" or to completely abolish the system of payment for healthcare delivery but rather, to reduce the risk of an individual being denied healthcare because of his/her inability to pay the cost involved. He said the scheme was not the property of the district assembly or the District Chief Executive or the Government but the subscribers, and urged the people in the district to help improve upon their health status.

Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, the Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, said for the scheme to be sustained there was the need for the members to embark on activities that would prevent the occurrences of diseases in the district.

He therefore, called on the traditional rulers, unit committee members and other opinion leaders to ensure 100 per cent immunisation of children by using the community register. He further advised them to organise forthnightly sanitation campaigns with awards.

Dr Appiah-Denkyira called on the community leaders to promote the use of bed net to control malaria infections in their communities and to organise quarterly community durbars to discuss problems on malaria incident, use of health facilities, school drop-outs school rate and transport arrangements for the sick.

Earlier, the District Chief Executive, Dr Eugenia Danquah Quist, announced that the registration fees for any one who wanted to join the scheme was five thousand cedis while the annual premium was 72,000 cedis for every adult of 18 years and above, adding that children under 18 years would not pay the premium but benefit from the scheme. Dr Quist said registration was going on and was expected to end on May 31 this year, saying contributors are expected to start benefiting from the scheme from August 1 2004.

Mr Akwasi Akoto, Managing Director of Akoto Risk Management Insurance Company, who chaired the function, called for the exclusion of politics in the management of the scheme.

He suggested that government should continue to support the scheme for the next three years to enable it to take care of management expenses which were expensive during the early periods of the scheme's establishment.