The Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners has announced it will from May 1, 2015, discontinue offering services to National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) subscribers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”sR1iMjxDK4M9cU7b68k5qNpl2lT1ZtPI”]They are threatening to go through with their decision if debts owed them by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) are not paid by April 30, 2015.
The Practitioners disclosed that they have not been paid by the Authority since august 2014 although they have still been rendering services to NHIS card bearers.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, the president of the group, Dr. Kwesi Odoi-Agyarkwa said they have exhausted all dialogue processes with the NIHA hence their resolve.
He asked for an intervention from stakeholders to advocate on their behalf to get their debts paid.
The group also asked their members to operate strictly according to the contract they have with the NHIA until the given deadline expires.
Another resolve was also for members to discontinue serving NHIS card bearers if the money is not paid and also appealed to members to comply with the directives given.
The Practitioners were however willing to give expert advise to help the Authority resolve its challenges.
Dr. Kwesi Odoi-Agyarkwa made some proposals to the NHIA including adopting the co-payment system which has been adopted in other countries and has recorded success rates.
They called for a dialogue to help NHIA work out effective strategies for the Capitation to be more effective.
Several medical facilities have threatened to also withdraw their services but the management of the NHIA has given the assurance all debts will settled soon.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has been outspoken about the adverse effects of the NHIA’s indebtedness to health facilities.
It has been advocating for effective measures to be adopted to curb the situation to save the nation’s health sector for possible collapse.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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