Cash and carry to return to hospitals soon – CDD warns

The Center for Democratic Development (CDD), has predicted a return to the old public health financial system where people pay cash for medical care if innovative means are not quickly adopted.

According to the CDD, a survey they conducted indicates that donor funding, which represents 70 to 80 percent of preventive and public health services, has dwindled over the years.

The CDD is, therefore, advocating for prudent financial mobilization and expenditure to save the healthcare system in Ghana.

A Research Fellow with the CDD, Dr Kojo Asante, voiced these concerns on the sidelines of a round-table discussion on resource allocation and utilization in Accra.

“The whole reason why we had the NHIS was to move from cash and carry but once you have the NHIS struggling to pay its service providers, then they have to pay out of the pocket and the trend is that, for a period, we were seeing an increase in out of pocket payments because the NHIS was under such dire stress.”

“We have to find a solution to making the NHIS work if we want to be able to provide healthcare, and that is why it is critical that it has to be replaced and maintained. We need to look at the amount we put into it,” he said.

Health insurance service providers have notably complained about arrears owed by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana in February 2018 threatened to return to the cash and carry system if arrears owed its members by the NHIA were not paid.

The Association said most of its members were owed about 20 months of claims.