{"id":96741,"date":"2015-03-05T12:27:34","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T12:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=96741"},"modified":"2015-03-05T12:37:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T12:37:41","slug":"nhia-must-think-outside-the-box-gma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/03\/nhia-must-think-outside-the-box-gma\/","title":{"rendered":"NHIA must think outside the box \u2013 GMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has questioned the refusal of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to implement the 3-year old proposals from stakeholders to bridge the funding gap for the scheme.<\/p>\n

The GMA argued that although there is indeed a funding gap, the NHIA should desist from using it as an excuse for its failure to pay outstanding claims of medical facilities nationwide.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”ZRvBxMffDJtRxNCZPrqWvnOu2yGq0Tg6″]According to Dr. Yankson, the funding gap has been an issue\u00a0for years \u201cbut all this while, as an Authority, what is their proposal to solve this problem? They\u2019ve had series of meetings with stakeholders \u2013 we have given them inputs as to some of the things to do to ensure that going forward, things are smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Deputy General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Justice Yankson on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> observed that \u201chealth facilities are on their knees\u2026because they haven\u2019t been paid up to a year\u2026this is not the time for funding gap analysis because we\u2019ve all gone through this exercise for years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health facilities across the country have been demanding the payment of all outstanding arrears owed them by the NHIA.<\/p>\n

Some have threatened to re-introduce the cash and carry system to help with the running of their facilities.<\/p>\n

The GMA has on a number of occasions charged the NHIA to take immediate steps<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>to pay the monies to save the nation\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n

The Finance Minister on Wednesday announced that government has remitted GHC 1.06million into the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years.<\/p>\n

The Authority has confirmed receipt of the money<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>but listed a number of factors responsible for the financial gap hampering the prompt payment of claims.<\/p>\n

\"NHIS<\/a>
NHIS Boss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He added that, \u201cwe\u2019ve had series of discussions, meetings where some of the solutions have been given them. They as an Authority are also mandated to think outside the box and come out with solutions. We didn\u2019t start today. It\u2019s been with us for the last four to five years so what have they been doing all this while?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was convinced that if government had listened to the suggestions of all stakeholders and implemented them, \u201cwe may not have been here. We\u2019ve been at this gap financing analysis for the last three to four years but yet still nothing has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExperts have been brought from elsewhere to give technical advice, consultancy services and all that so for me, if they haven\u2019t implemented policies that will reduce that funding gap, then I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an appropriate time to introduce that excuse. The truth is that people are not getting healthcare,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @osamidan<\/a>
\n