Kufuor's poorly implemented NHIS scheme is his most enduring legacy – Arthur K

A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Arthur Kennedy has noted that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is the most enduring legacy of former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Dr Arthur Kennedy however, noted that the scheme was poorly implemented.

Discussing the current state of affairs of the country while speaking in an interview with Dzifa Bampoh on the First Take on 3FM Tuesday May 11, the former Communications Director of the NPP said that there was no actuarial work done to underpin the creation of the scheme.

In his analysis of the general situation, he said over the next four years, he expects “Constitutional reforms, strengthening NHIS and free SHS which, as at now, are not viable.

He said also he expects “fighting corruption so that governance becomes more accountable, revamping healthcare so that we have better healthcare delivery and more healthy country, making Accra the cleanest city in Africa as the president promised.”

He added “Where we went wrong is that the NHIS was Kufuor’s most enduring legacy but it was not done properly.

“There was no actuarial work to underpin it. So right now, the NHS is not viable. It only has 60 per cent of those eligible on it. Already, the president said when he came into office we owed 1.2billion Ghana cedis which is 300million dollars as at that time.

“So right now what do we need to do? Increase the flow of revenue into it , make sure that people who get involved in road traffic accidents are cared for not by NHIS but by vehicle insurance premiums, make sure foreign companies do not just enroll their employees onto NHIS . These things will make the NHIS stronger.

“We need to build more healthcare infrastructure. I think our central problem is that we take care of too many of pour people insides hospitals but that has always proven to be more expensive.”