It argues that the increment will help to address some of the teething challenges that have for so long bedeviled the Scheme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wZur3ul65ctgVyNNaeaNsqwGVgpyghJj”]The Scheme under the New Patriotic Party [NPP] administration, has been struggling with a GH¢100 million debt that is negatively affecting its operations.

Last week, some offices of the scheme halted the processing of new cards for interested persons due to a shortage of printing materials.

But the managers of the Scheme say they need to raise enough funding to help them run more efficiently.

In an interview on Eyewitness News on Monday, the Communications Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Barimah Sarpong, said Ghana’s insurance scheme currently fell short of recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), in terms of spending on members of the scheme, noting that failure to raise monies for this purpose may cause the Scheme to collapse.

“Currently, as far as our financial strength can take us, we use about $30 to take care of each member on NHIS, but according to WHO’s guidelines, you need $86 to give each member basic healthcare, so if we are doing about $30 now, then of course there is the need to ensure that we take measures now to put NHIS on a level that it will be financially sustainable for the next 50 years. These are only proposals up for discussion… The parent problem of NHIS is a financial difficulty. Funding gap has been the reason why we are always in the news for non-payment of claims and our members being asked to top up at various health facilities,” he said.

While admitting that the Scheme was currently facing a lot of difficulties in its operation, he urged the public to exercise retraint as some of the challenges including shortage of logistics at the various regional officers will be addressed this week.

ICU to petition Parliament

Meanwhile, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has served notice it will petition Parliament to stop the National Health Insurance Authority [NHIA], from increasing the NHIS levy.

The General Secretary of the ICU, Solomon Kotei, told Citi News that, there are other viable revenue generation strategies for the NHIA, and that the Authority should begin by blocking loopholes in its system instead of raising levies.

Highlighting some challenges hampering the NHIA’s efforts at increasing revenue, Mr. Kotei said: “There has been a lot of malfeasance going on at the NHIA, and it’s not been made known to us through investigation. We were informed that a lot of people ran away to some countries. Have they retrieved those monies or it is gone for good? We have people who are benefiting from the NHIA who don’t contribute anything to it. I am referring to people from Cote D’lvoire, Togo, Nigeria and India.”

This is not the NHIA’s first attempt at increasing the levy. In September 2017, the NHIA indicated that, it had made a proposal to the government to levy tobacco and alcohol to fund the scheme.

The Authority had explained that, the proposal was one of the options of finding additional sources of funding to sustain the policy, since the 2.5 percent NHIS levy collected under the Value Added Tax (VAT), and the 2.5 percentage Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions appear to be adequate.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This means new subscribers would have to wait until next week to be registered onto the scheme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0eKp0Qnswqvh6bNHpOSilRyeUGQnvrRk”]According to the Regional Public Relations Officer of the Scheme, Rofina Ankwain, the delay is due to challenges with the procurement of the needed materials from the national headquarters in Accra.

She said other challenges confronting their operations in the region include poor access to internet connectivity.

“Our internet is always down, making it difficult for people to take photos and the fingerprints. Also the ribbons we use for the printing, we don’t have ribbons for the new registrations. We are still having issues with our procurement… We are working to resolve the procurement issue.  A vehicle is leaving for Accra. It will get to Accra on Friday and so hopefully on Monday, we wouldn’t have that problem,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the Greater Accra Region, scores of people who showed up to register at some centres were also turned away due to similar challenges.

A similar situation is being experienced at some NHIS offices in the Western Region, according to Citi News’ Obrempong Yaw Ampofo.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post U/East NHIS unable to print cards over shortage of ribbon papers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The NHIA in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and with support from the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank, Marie-Stopes International and PharmAccess Foundation, will be using a tablet-based technology to identify the poor.

The project is targeting 20,000 people per district, who would be given coupons for free registration when the system, using a questionnaire, certifies an individual as poor.

The poor, under the system would be exempted from paying health insurance premium.

Mr Collins Akuamoah, Deputy Director, NHIA said about 2.2 million Ghanaians were ‘core poor’ and that Government was committed to ensuring that they were not left out in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage.

Mr Mawutor Ablo, Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said people in rural communities contributed a lot to the national economy and needed to be enrolled free of charge.

Mr David Kwei Kanyi, District Coordinating Director, Agotime Ziofe, commended government for the initiative and entreated participants to answer the questionnaires truthfully for a successful exercise.

“We must do more to remove barriers that hinder enrollment of the poor”, he said.

The NHIA has registered over 11.2 million people nationwide, representing about 40 per cent of the population since its introduction.

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Source: GNA

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The sunshine vitamin is vital for healthy bones, but also has a role in the immune system.

The analysis, published in the British Medical Journal, argues food should be fortified with the vitamin.

But Public Health England (PHE) says the infections data is not conclusive, although it does recommend supplements.

These, it says, should be taken for improved bone and muscle health.

The immune system uses vitamin D to make antimicrobial weapons that puncture holes in bacteria and viruses.

But as vitamin D is made in the skin while out in the sun, many people have low levels during winter.

Trials on using supplements to prevent infections have given mixed results, so the researchers pooled data on 11,321 people from 25 separate trials to try to get a definitive answer.

The team at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) looked at respiratory tract infections – which covers a wide range of illnesses from a sniffle to flu to pneumonia.

Overall, the study said one person would be spared infection for every 33 taking vitamin D supplements.

That is more effective than flu vaccination, which needs to treat 40 to prevent one case, although flu is far more serious than the common cold.

There were greater benefits for those taking pills daily or weekly – rather than in monthly super-doses – and in people who were deficient in the first place.

One of the researchers, Prof Adrian Martineau, said: “Assuming a UK population of 65 million, and that 70% have at least one acute respiratory infection each year, then daily or weekly vitamin D supplements will mean 3.25 million fewer people would get at least one acute respiratory infection a year.”

PHE already advises everyone to take vitamin D supplements in autumn and winter for the sake of healthy bones and muscles.

They are recommended all year round for some people who get little sunlight on their skin, including people in care homes or those who cover up.

However, there is considerable debate about the importance of the latest study.

Prof Louis Levy, the head of nutrition science at PHE, said: “The evidence on vitamin D and infection is inconsistent and this study does not provide sufficient evidence to support recommending vitamin D for reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections.”

But Prof Martin Hewison, from the University of Birmingham and the Society for Endocrinology, said the findings were “striking”.

“I agree with the authors that this study supports a new indication for vitamin D beyond its established benefits for bone health,” he added.

And the research wing of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research which funded the study, said the findings were “worthy of serious further debate”.

Ultimately, the researcher team at QMUL want vitamin D to be added to food like in the US where milk is fortified.

Prof Martineau said: “Vitamin D fortification of foods provides a steady, low-level intake of vitamin D that has virtually eliminated profound vitamin D deficiency in several countries.

“By demonstrating this new benefit of vitamin D, our study strengthens the case for introducing food fortification to improve vitamin D levels in countries such as the UK where profound vitamin D deficiency is common.”

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Source: BBC

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