Accra, Jan 28, GNA- Sheikh Ibrahim Cudjoe Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, on Wednesday announced that the Ministry of Finance has released 34.8 billion Cedis as a start-up fund for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The Ghana Health Services (GHS) will manage the fund, which will cover all the 110 districts.
Sheikh Quaye said this when addressing the 2003 Annual Review Conference of the Greater Accra Regional Health Services Administration, in Accra.
He said various districts had started the Scheme on pilot basis despite the postponement of the scheduled launch of the NHIS by President John Agyekum Kufuor on January 14.
"It is believed that the Scheme is the best way to make health services affordable and accessible for all citizens- the rich and the poor, the employed and unemployed. It is government's desire that it begins as early as possible", he said.
The Regional Minister said the Scheme would replace the "Cash and Carry System", which had been widely condemned by stakeholders as a harsh system that negates accessibility.
He was optimistic that the GHS, which played a pivotal role in the initiation of the scheme, would continue to play a major role in its implementation.
Sheikh Quaye called on health professionals to be vigilant and fight any unknown disease that might surface in Ghana in the face of global diseases such as "bird Flu" and Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Dr Kofi Osae Adadey, Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, urged district assemblies to liaise with regional health directorates to identify paupers, the aged, children under five and pregnant women within their communities in order to provide them with free health care in line with the exemption policy.
He also cautioned the authorities of health institutions not to take it for granted that they would be roped into the NHIS programme, saying they should ensure that they met the criteria for selection. "We have to work towards achieving that status by meeting the criteria set," he stressed.
Dr Adadey said the Ghana Health Services had reactivated all straight midwifery schools in the country, to meet the demands of midwives in the health sector.
"Also the government is in the process of establishing Community Health Nursing School in each region to meet the demands of the acute shortfall in nursing care within communities," he said.
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