Health facilities in W/R face power disconnection

Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, Western Regional Health Director, has said most health facilities in the Region risk being disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) because they cannot pay huge electricity bills from their internally-generated funds.

He added that the unfortunate situation had been created as a result of the current tariffs being paid by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) as claims to service providers, which cannot also support payment of electricity bills.

He has therefore expressed the need for the ECG, NHIA and the Health Service to dialogue in order to formularize modalities for the payment of the bills to prevent outright disconnection at the health facilities.

Dr. Tinkorang expressed these concerns at the Annual Performance Review meeting of the Ghana Health Service in Takoradi, to take stock, analyse their challenges and strategize for the coming years.

The event, which was held on the theme, "Improving data to facilitate the achievement of health related Millennium Development Goals” brought together health professionals and key stakeholders in the health sector from the 22 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the Region.

Dr. Tinkorang indicated that the NHIA had paid claims of health service providers in the Region up to June 2014, and warned that if the NHIA did not pay the outstanding amount on time, it would ground health services in the Region to a halt.

He therefore appealed to the NHIA to urgently resolve the issue with dispatch to avoid any eventualities.

In an address, Mr. Alfred Ekow Gyan, Deputy Regional Minister, pledged government’s commitment to provide the necessary financial and logistical support to the Ghana Health Service to ensure quality health delivery.

He said government had put mechanisms in place to ensure payment of the backlog of arrears of the NHIS claims and subsequently effect payments of monthly claims without any more delays.

The Minister advised health service providers to do due diligence by ensuring that claims were submitted timorously in order to afford the NHIA the opportunity to vet them and effect payment on time.

He observed that the Region experienced improvements in some health indicators, especially with community-based health post services and out- patients’ attendance.

He therefore commended health workers for their hard work in curbing the cholera outbreak last year and maintaining Ebola free status and thus, urged them not to rest on their oars.