GMA expresses concern about collapse of NHIS

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), has expressed concern about the collapse of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Speaking at a news conference in Bolgatanga, after the end of the third NEC Meeting of the GMA for the year 2016, the President of the Association, Dr Ebenezer Ewusi –Emmim stated that, it is a fact that many health facilities are resorting to cash and carry because of the prolonged indebtedness of the NHIS to them.

“The GMA is gravely concerned with the gradual re-introduction of cash and carry system at the various health institutions and facilities in the country.

“It is a fact that the health facilities and institutions are resorting to cash and carry because of the prolonged indebtedness of the NHIS to them.

Indeed some facilities have not been paid their claims in the last quarter of 2015,” the President stressed.

The President, who is also the Deputy Commissioner of Police, indicated that the NHIS as a social intervention in healthcare financing over the years, it had contributed significantly to the improvement of the health care of Ghanaians, particularly the vulnerable and must not be allowed to collapse.

He, therefore, called on the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to as a matter of urgency take bold steps to pay the money it owes to safe the health system.

The Chairman of the Upper East Chapter of the Association, Dr Thomas Mensah Afful, who is also the Bolgatanga Municipal Health Director, kicked against the lodging of the money deducted for the scheme into the consolidated fund and proposed that instead, it should be paid directly to into the NHIA.