The Directive by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) that card holders should visit private and faith-based hospitals in the wake of the GMA’s strike has been met with stiff opposition as some private health facilities are demanding cash for their services.

In Kumasi, the hospitals are demanding cash from patients who have National Health Insurance (NHIS) cards in spite of a directive by the NHIA that all cases from public hospitals should be absorbed by the mission and private hospitals.

The best a patient can get is the co-payment policy where NHIS card holding patients are asked to pay part of the cost of treatment.

Private hospitals in the Greater Accra Region are taking the card but are not giving any preferential treatment to card holders.

“If your card is valid and you bring it we will take it,” a health worker at the Lapaz Community Hospital said.

The Family Health Hospital when contacted indicated they were also accepting NHIS cards as directed by the health authority.

A statement signed by the Head of Communications at NHIA, Selorm Adonoo, entreated all NHIS card holders who may be turned away from public health facilities to visit any of the NHIS-credentialed private and faith-based hospitals and clinics to access healthcare services.

“NHIS cardholders may also access healthcare at the 37 Military and Police Hospitals in Accra and the many health centres and community-based health planning and services (CHPS) compounds across the country,” it stated.

Reasons

However, the Health Insurance Service Providers Association (HISPAG) of Ghana has justified the decision to adopt a cash-and-carry system for NHIS subscribers.

Executive Director of HISPAG, Frank Toblu, said the NHIA owes the private hospitals over GHc125 million in claims and capitation which makes it impossible for them to take any more debts.

“The private hospitals are saying that in the past when we saw people under emergency situations you refused to pay. Now that you have an emergency you are now asking us to take care of the people,” Mr Toblu protested.

He said government should come clear on how the payment module would be before any arrangement would be made.

Nurses Tango

Striking nurses at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are not heeding to the several calls by government to resume work, saying they will not return to work until their salary arrears are settled by government in full.

Spokesperson for the striking nurses, Fredrick Asare Donkor, said there is no way they will return to work if their salaries are not paid.

“We will only go back to work when we are certain and can confirm that the monies are in our accounts,” he said on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem.

“The only option is for them to pay the moneys, otherwise we won’t go to work,” he added.

Government in reaction to the current impasse has noted it cannot negotiate under duress, asking the doctors and nurses to go back to work as negotiations continue.

Labour and Employment Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, said it is rather disappointing that the doctors in the middle of negotiations decided to withdraw part of their services.

He said the strike is disastrous for the country because if the outstanding issue is resolved, the lives that are lost as a result of the strike cannot be recovered.

According to him, the doctors made some 14 demands, “some we are able to accommodate; some partially, others we were not able to accommodate at all.”

He would rather the doctors return to the negotiating table so the differences will be ironed out.

On the issues of the pharmacists, the labour minister also implored the pharmacists to return to work as government works tirelessly to resolve the matter.