President Nana Akufo-Addo says his government has revived the National Health Insurance Scheme after the policy initiated by a government of his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by former President Agyekum Kufuor was left in ruins by governments of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) preceding him.
The president was speaking at the commissioning of the Ga East Municipal Hospital on Monday, October 6, 2019 at Kwabenya.
President Nana Addo, outlining some strides achieved by his government in improving access to quality health service said, his government has cleared a GHC1.2 billion NHIS arrears accrued by his NDC predecessors Prof. John Mills and John Mahama which had left the NHIS in ruins.
“Today, the National Health Insurance Scheme, that great social legacy bequeaths to us by the outstanding Ghanaian statesman, the second president of the fourth republic, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor and which was left in ruins by his NDC successors has been revived again by another NPP led government. We’ve cleared the GHC1.2 billion NHIS arrears we inherited and brought the operations of the NHIS back to life.”
The president added that his government has also launched the mobile renewal of NHIS membership as part of efforts to keep the policy running and accessible to Ghanaians.
Mentioning other policies undertaken by government in improving healthcare through the provision of health infrastructure, equipment and logistics, the president said government is deploying the appropriate technologies as part of its drive in attaining universal health coverage.
He said government has taken stock of the first batch of 96 ambulances out of 275 meant for the One District One Ambulance Policy, with the remaining expected to be delivered by the end of December. He revealed that drivers have already been trained for the operations of the ambulances.
The president said the use of drones for the delivery of essential medical supplies to health facilities across the country is already seeing results, as reports indicate the Amenako site has conducted over one thousand flights delivering over five thousand products, barely five months after operations commenced.
