Government pays NHIS GH¢1 billion

President Akufo-Addo has announced the payment of GH¢1billion out of the GH¢1.2 billion owed the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the last 15 months.

He further announced that payments to service providers were also being made since his administration took office in January 2017.

As a result, “the Scheme is regaining its effectiveness, so that for a minimum amount, subscribers can have access to a wide range of medical services.”

President Akufo-Addo made this known when he delivered the keynote speech at the London School of Economics’ Africa Summit on the theme: ‘Africa At Work: Educated, Employed, Empowered’.

Addressing the gathering, Ghana’s president pointed out that the responsibility confronting the continent is to make African countries attractive for African youth and for them to see the continent as a place of opportunities.

“It means we must provide education, quality education and skills training. It means our young people must acquire the skills that run modern economies,” he said.

Whilst stressing that education is the key to Africa’s development, he highlighted that African countries must run their economies to be able to fund the education of African children.

“We should not get into arguments with donor agencies about our priorities. We must set our own priorities, and we must accept that we should provide the funds to translate our plans into reality,” he said.

The president continued, “That is why despite the bleak economic situation my government inherited, we decided to implement immediately the pledge we had made about providing Free Senior High School (SHS) education.

He was confident that “if we stop being beggars and spend Africa’s moneys inside the continent, Africa would not need to ask for respect from anyone. We would get the respect we deserve.”

President Akufo-Addo also revealed further that, in Ghana, whereas the indications are that the economic dividends are on the horizon, there are other areas where the nation is thriving.

The media in Ghana, he said, has come into its own, and what used to be called the culture of silence has been replaced with a cacophony that now worries some.

“I have said it before, and I believe it bears repeating, I would much rather put up with a reckless press than a monotonous, praise-singing one. A democracy has no place for a media that does not keep public authorities on their toes,” he added.