After going through stormy weather for a while, the National Health Insurance Scheme seems to be gradually swimming to safety. It has been registering hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country as members of the scheme.
Most service providers continue to provide medical care to the numerous subscribers with very little or no problems. The government on its part is said to be preparing to pay up all monies the NHIA owes the service providers. Now read on.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority NHIA in charge of operations Mr. Nathaniel Otoo is upbeat about the biometric registration exercises meant to register many Ghanaians on the scheme. Apart from increasing the number of people who will access the scheme that now stand at 8.9 million people, the biometric registration would eliminate fraud and abuse and promote cost containment. The prayer of Mr. Otoo seems to have been answered.
Currently the scheme is receiving acceptance and approval by individuals and organizations in Ghana and abroad. For this reason the scheme has won many awards by some organizations at home and abroad. Among these awards is one from Imani Ghana a Ghanaian civil society organization which declared NHIA as one of the best managed organizations in Ghana
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) was named as the recipient of the Inspirational Public Leadership Award 2014 from IMANI Ghana. It grabbed the 2014 top award at a ceremony at Alisa Hotel, Ridge, in Accra on the 27th of November, 2014.
Over the last five years, one of IMANI’s flagship projects is to critically assess public sector organizations and award leadership of best-performing organizations using such indices as efficiency, productivity, as well as integrity in public office. Its award to the NHIA on such merits is, therefore, significant.
This year, according to IMANI, the NHIA earned the top award for executing its important mandate, including ensuring equity in health care coverage and utilizing innovative solutions in the effort to provide financial access to healthcare for the poor and vulnerable in Ghana.
A visit to all NHIA offices in most parts of Accra reveals well motivated staff of the Authority working so hard to promote the mandate of the scheme.
Those engaged in registering subscribers report as early as 2am to begin registering members on the scheme. A visit to the Ayawaso branch of the scheme at Dzorwulu in Accra revealed that most of the worker put in their best to the extent that they are said to register more than 600 six hundred subscribers a day.
Although they receive hundreds of people a day they apply courtesy in attending to them I was informed by most of the staff there that the same system of work is used in all the branches of the NHIA in all parts of Accra and throughout Ghana. I believed him because of the messages I receive daily from around the country on the operations of the NHIA scheme.
I had the opportunity of testing the effectiveness of the National Health Insurance Scheme in some clinics and hospitals including the Ashongman Community Hospital and the Achimota Hospital.
The many subscribers of the scheme do troop into the hospitals to access almost all aspects of medical care without paying a dime from consultation, laboratory services and drugs except those that are not covered by insurance. Even those on admission and those women who are admitted in the maternity wards were spared payment of most aspects of medical care.
The scheme has received approval by many individuals and organizations that sponsor their employees and other people within the communities in Ghana. One such organizations is the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Graduates Association which supported About 500 people from the deprived community of Nkramom to benefit from free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) registration
The exercise, which cost over GH¢4,000, was part of the social responsibility of the IDB graduates, beneficiaries of IDB scholarships who are determined to give something back to society after their education. Beneficiaries of the ADB scholarships are not alone in providing free registration to Ghanaians. The Ministry Of Gender Women and Social Protection and other government and private organizations have extended help to many vulnerable people including the aged to get registered
In spite of all the benefits in the NHIA scheme there are some subscribers and service providers who would wish to have the scheme improved. Even though the scheme is one of the best in the world providing subscribers with good medical care it is expensive to run.
But the government has began the processes to clear outstanding debts owed service providers across the nation and clear unnecessary expenses.
Dr Victor Bampoe the deputy health minister who said this sad he would personally take steps to settle the debt.
I believe that the Chief Executive officer and the entire staff of the scheme would continue to do all they could to improve the services of the NHIA for the benefit of the entire people of Ghana.
Author: Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai