‘Co-payment affects subscribers’ confidence’

The issue of co-payment in the National Health Insurance (NHIS) where clients were asked to pay for services that should have been free of charge, was affecting their confidence in the scheme, the Upper East Regional Director of the Scheme, Mr Sebastian Alagpulinsa has disclosed.

The Regional Director who made the disclosure in Bolgatanga when he briefed the Regional Minister, Mr James Zuugah Tiigah, on the status of the implementation of the scheme in the region, explained that not only was co-payment affecting the confidence of the subscribers, but it was also compromising quality of health care.

He, however, expressed the hope that the capitation and biometric registration would help address many of the challenges confronting the scheme, including fraud and abuse by some clients.

Mr Alagpulinsa noted that notwithstanding the challenges, the scheme had chalked a lot of successes in the region, saying it had registered a membership of 418,916, representing 82 per cent of the population by the end of September.

“It also registered 187,074 school children (Primary, JHS, and SHS) out of a target of 249,645. This represents an achievement of 75% of the third quarter milestone. It registered 56,045 indigents as at the third quarter of 2015. This represents about 47% of our target. We achieved 56% of our premium target for the third quarter. A total of 1,435,558.00 out of a target of 2,548,519.00 were also mobilized” he disclosed.

The Regional Director, who stated that the scheme covered about 95 per cent of all tropical diseases in the region, said for the third quarter it organized stakeholders engagements in some of the districts, aimed at soliciting the inputs of the stakeholders to help improve on the scheme and to also brief people about the operation of the scheme.

He added that special registration exercises had also been carried out which targeted the poor and school children under the school feeding and school uniform programmes.

On the service providers of the scheme, he stated that they now depended on the scheme for about 95 per cent of their revenue which minimized financial leakages

The Regional Director attributed the congestion of clients at some of the district offices to fluctuations of the ICT machines, and gave the assurance that management of the scheme was mindful of the problem and was working hard to address it.

Mr Alagpulinsa who appealed to the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) to impress upon the Municipal and District Assemblies to assist the scheme with office and staff accommodation, also appealed to all stakeholders to partner the scheme to render efficient services.

The Regional Minister commended Management of the scheme, and pledged the RCC’s support to the scheme, stressing that the government was committed to providing for the health needs of the people.