Greater Accra NDC condemn attack on NHIS boss

The Greater Accra NDC has condemned the actions of some individuals who have described Sylvester Mensah as a liability and are calling for his dismissal as the head of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

They said the region is proud to be associated with Mr Mensah who many describe as hardworking, reliable and with a down to earth persona.

A statement signed by Mr Sam Atukwei Quaye, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Secretary, said the faceless group calling itself “the alliance for the empowerment of NDC Constituency Branch Executives” accused Mr Mensah of failing to provide leadership in the implementation of the one-time premium policy and thus he is a burden for the government.

It said the Greater Accra regional executives wish to disassociate itself from the group whose members are unknown to the party in the region.

The statement explained that the one-time premium policy was not a manifesto promise in the 2012 elections but rather to help the scheme to grow through initiatives that will help curb and contain escalating costs, and secure the long-term future of the NHIS.

It said at the time Mr Mensah took office, the NHIA was beset with many problems including the lack of accountability, multiple corruption points in the system including collusions between some of the scheme’s staff and some service providers to take advantage of the system.

The statement said audits conducted in 2010 revealed an extensive network of malfeasance and malpractices including falsification of records, over-billing, the lack of capacity at the schemes, inadequacies in management structure, financial administration deficiencies, and huge indebtedness to service providers.

It said, Mr Mensah and his team of able administrators, engineered reforms to the scheme introducing a new legal regime and consolidation of the schemes nation-wide; increasing membership and expansion of health insurance coverage of the population; boosting human resource capacity at the scheme, establishing a strategy and corporate affairs division and the clinical audit division to promote quality care.

The statement said it is also known that Mr Mensah enforced the establishment and improved internal audit division to revamp resource and upgrade scheme status and also initiated the establishment of claim processing centres.