"We support health scheme but..." Workers Unions

Bolgatanga, Aug. 17, GNA - Workers of the various labour unions in the Upper East Region on Friday expressed concern about the inability of government to come out clearly on the modalities it intends to use to fund the health insurance scheme currently before Parliament.

They say they are totally against the present cash and carry system and support fully government's efforts to introduce the health insurance scheme to take care of the health needs of the people.


"But we strongly oppose the propose 2.5 per cent deduction from workers social security to fund the health insurance scheme".


The workers said this at a consultative meeting to study the content of the proposed health insurance scheme bill before Parliament, waiting an endorsement to be passed into an Act.


They said, "if government ignores our concerns and goes ahead to implement the scheme as it so wish, using our social security to fund it, we would resist".


In view of the seriousness and importance the workers attach to the scheme, they resolved to postpone the meeting and give their members the opportunity to study the bill in detail and point out the flaws in it at a next meeting scheduled for August 22 before coming out with a concrete resolution.


Mr. Smart Chigabatia, Executive Secretary of the Civil Servants Association, who addressed the workers, said workers have identified various flaws in the bill, some of which included the absence of categories of diseases the scheme would cover, the seed capital required for take off of the scheme, among others.

He said the existing retirement benefits for workers in the country are woefully inadequate, adding that the 17.5 per cent workers contribute, as social security should not be tampered with in anyway so that it could yield higher dividends for workers to have good pension benefits.


Mr Chigabatia suggested that government could source funding for the scheme to take off like any of the existing funds such as the poverty alleviation, and rural electrification funds to lessen the burden on workers in future.


In addition, he said alternatively, employers could utilise what they already have as health facilities, including the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to start the scheme.


He noted that government was apprehensive about the seed capital that it needs to start the scheme and said, "we are prepared to contribute to the scheme in earnest and also suggest various ways of funding, if we know how much seed money government needs to start the scheme with".


He said contributors to the scheme as presented by government in the proposed bill is vague, "we are interested in a scheme that would be owned and manned by both government and workers who are the main contributors to the scheme. We would also not accept the universal approach government seems to suggest to the mode of contribution," he emphasised.


The General Secretary for the Ghana Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU), Mr Samuel Kangah, GPRTU Regional Executive, Regional Executive members from the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and Regional Executive from Civil Servants Association were present.