Koforidua, May 14, GNA - The Eastern Regional National Health Insura= nce Authority (NHIA), on Thursday, held a workshop for service providers, to address challenges facing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Participants of the workshop included, accountants, pharmacists and scheme managers from all the districts in the region.

The Eastern Regional Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the=

NHIA, Mr Oti Frempong, in a presentation said, health insurance was a mechanism of spreading incurring health care cost over a group of individuals or households. He said the country practiced free medical care just after independe= nce in 1957 but could not be sustained due to economic recession in the 1970s=

and early 1980s. He said a user fee popularly known as "Cash and Carry" was introduce= d in 1983.

This, Mr Frempong said, created barriers to accessing basic health c= are and the poor and other vulnerable groups were denied access to basic heal= th care. He said as a result the NHIS was introduced in 2003 He said the scheme was being funded by premium from subscribers, national health insurance levy, Social Security and Insurance Trust (SSNI= T) deductions from the formal sector, returns from investments, donor suppor= t and funds from the Government to be allocated by Parliament. Mr Frempong noted that primary care services that constitute about 9= 5 percent of reported cases in Ghanaian healthcare institutions are covered= , so are their related drugs for their treatment, as specified on the NHIS Drug List. The Regional Director of Health Service, Dr Erasmus E.A Agongo, in a= n address appealed to the NHIA to update their records regularly to avoid challenges in future. He also called on service providers to keep appropriate records to prevent mistakes in future.