According to the Director of Health Services, Dr. Nsiah Asare, the average disbursement per month is about GHC 81 million.

[contextly_sidebar id=”myzxjlSGyTHNBtmArxnzYIzOq2CftRDO”]Speaking at the 15th Annual General Meeting of Medical Superintendents Group 0f Ghana at Koforidua, Dr. Nsiah Asare assured that “systems are in place to ensure frequent reimbursement of claims” and urged hospitals to treat such transactions with seriousness.

“We want to monitor every single claim form sent to the Health Insurance Authority so a special office has been created at the ministry to see to it because we realized that 10 percent of claims from health facilities are rejected by the scheme and we do not want that to continue.”

“We want to ensure zero tolerance on claims rejection and I advise all hospitals who have assigned claims handling duties to national service personnel to desist from doing so,” he added.

Favouring local pharmaceutical companies

Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, the guest speaker at the program, suggested that the National Health Insurance Authority gives priority to generic drugs to reduce the burden on the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He is of the view that local pharmaceutical companies can be assigned to produce equally quality good drugs to lessen the influx of branded drugs on the Ghanaian market.

“The good Lord planted medicines in our backyards and yet we do not use it, I keep saying we may have the cure to HIV here but nobody is searching for it. In the National Health service in the UK, all the prescriptions are generic drugs, but here we rely heavily on branded drugs, we are putting pressure on our Health Insurance with these branded drugs instead of generic drugs. We can manufacture these branded drugs here by assigning them to produce the drugs here and they must be endorsed for usage by our Health Insurance, we should not go chasing new drugs but let’s create our own here.”

He then urged the Medical Superintendents to be creative, research and use herbal medicines in discharging their duties.

“It is high time medical superintendents become more creative, we should endeavour to do more research in other fields of studies,” he said.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t disbursing GHc81m monthly to tackle NHIS debt appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“So far, government has, by dint of prudent management within the short space of seven months, cleared GH¢560 million out of the GH¢1.2 billion of debt inherited,” he said.

According to him, government is also putting measures in place to within 12 months clear the remaining amount owed healthcare providers who dispensed service to National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) beneficiaries.

“I am told I can confidently say that we will settle all the arrears within the next 12 months.”

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Saturday, 12^th August, 2017, when he delivered a speech at the 50^th congregation and 5^th oath taking and induction ceremony of the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Cape Coast.

Akufo-Addo during the electioneering accused the Mahama government of collapsing the NHIS adding that he will revive it when given the mandate.

“This year, we are up to date on the payment of claims to service providers. It is essential that the businesses of healthcare providers do not collapse,” he added.

Don’t see rural postings as punishment 

President Akufo-Addo also admonished the young doctors to accept postings in rural communities in the country saying they should not see it as a punishment.

Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio currently stands at one doctor to 8,000 patients a situation the president described as “woefully inadequate.”

“Our doctor patient ratio is even more lump sided when you get to the rural and deprived areas of our country. I do not put the all the blame on our medical doctors unwillingness to work in these communities. If we had good road networks and good schools are available around the country and not only in the urban centers, if we had electricity supply in all communities we will not have to be asked indeed insist that our young doctors take up postings in the rural communities. As we train more doctors to solve the shortage of doctors, we must also do more to keep them,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post We’ve cleared part of GHc1.2b NHIS debt – Akufo-Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the current administration has failed to follow plans and policies it had in place to deal with the issue of the sector especially with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) arrears.

His response follows comments made by the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, who told Parliament that the scheme owes service providers and suppliers over GHc100 million Ghana cedis.

[contextly_sidebar id=”E9Pv77ib1bZXUTe7cgiLVsLpgCSKEpgq”]But Mr. Segbefia told Citi News that there must be a meticulous government effort to acquire funds to deal with the issue.

“…We were aware of the debt that was going to come, we were aware of the payments and we had a formula and system to deal with. But unfortunately there was a change of government and they [NPP] made all manner of promises that they had clear plan to deal with it. The question now is that, what is the plan for the current government?”

The former Health Minister explained that, during their time in office, the NDC government made ten percent of total NHIA allocation to the Health Ministry for the clearing of debts of essential vaccines and other commitments.

He added that the NDC government also decided to make some allocations from the petroleum levy to support the NHIA to bridge it funding gap, but could not implement it because they were kicked out of power.

“The way we got around this was that when the NHIA pay, ten percent of the amount paid to the NHIA is made available to the ministry to deal with issues such as this. And so we had put in place a system whereby funding for payment of essential vaccines were to come from allocations which was given to NHIA.”

He said they realized that “if we got all the money, because of the increased uses of the NHIA, all the monies that were coming from the formula we would still have a funding gap or shortage within the NHIA.”

“It is for this reason that the NDC administration decided and you heard it in our manifesto that we were going to take money from the petroleum levy to add to the existing NHIA bill which would have also increased the ten percent that was supposed to given, and would deal with this payment that we have made for the essential drugs and also give the NHIA the extra funding that it requires,” he added.

He thus called on the current Minister to implement the proposal or better still implement recommendations from a report commissioned by the Mahama government into the NHIA on how to increase its revenue.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post NDC can’t be blamed for NHIS debt – Alex Segbefia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

President Nana Akufo-Addo noted that, his government has found it necessary to find the money to save the scheme from collapse.

[contextly_sidebar id=”C4vGQsvgydxcbvc93gIMahj4DRZcAonQ”]“The scheme has been threatened by mismanagement and by huge indebtedness. We are now having to liquidate systematically the arrears so that the service providers can be encouraged to provide services for NHIS card holders.”

“I am hoping that within 18 months, all the arrears of the NHIS would have been settled so that we can have a secure future for the scheme,” the President said.

In May 2017, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Samuel Annor, disclosed that the Scheme was broke and unable to pay service providers.

The Scheme is said to owe service providers to the tune of GHc1.2 billion, and the Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana and the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), had threatened to boycott services to the scheme over the debt.

Empowering and providing opportunities

President Akufo-Addo was speaking on Tuesday, June 6, when he addressed the Ghanaian community in Belgium, as part of his visit to that country, ahead of the conduct of the meetings of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocates Group of Eminent Personalities.

He also touched on his administration’s vision for education, and the potential of the Free Senior High School policy scheduled to start in September 2017.

President Akufo-Addo underscored the importance of education and skills training to empowering and providing opportunities to the youth to help drive Ghana’s development.

“So as from September this year, anybody entering the public Senior High School system is going to get their education free. The burden is being taken on by the State. We are doing so because we believe that having access to education, empowering our human capital, is our biggest challenge,” he said.

The President continued, “If we are able to do that, within the shortest possible time, and expose our young people to education, especially to new digital technology, it becomes the fastest way to bridge the gap and pull ourselves out from the poverty in which we are in today.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’re working to clear NHIS debt by 2019 – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.