Report on proposed health insurance scheme for teachers

A committee set up by the Ministry of Education to work out modalities for the establishment of a health insurance scheme for the staff of the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Wednesday proposed that both employees and employers should contribute to the scheme and proceeds should be invested in a fund to be managed by a board of directors.

Mrs Irene Adanosa, General-Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers and chairperson of the committee, said proceeds from the investment would be used to pay for the medical bills of the staff and it would cover a staff, his or her spouse and four children, aged 18 and below.

The General-Secretary, who throwing more light on some of the proposals contained in a report presented to the Education Minister, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi in Accra, said under the proposals some chronic conditions or illnesses of the over 200,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of the GES would not be covered.

She explained that both in- and out-patients using public health facilities and mission hospitals in rural areas would be covered. Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi thanked the committee for the work done and promised that the proposals would be studied with all seriousness in order to take the necessary action for implementation.

He told the committee to help in educating the staff of GES to ensure a smooth take-off the scheme when it was implemented, adding that most insurance schemes were fraught with deals, which hindered their implementation. The Minister said a national health insurance scheme could best be handled if it was done on a small-scale among identifiable groups like the GES.