Workshop on insurance scheme ends at Sunyani

Sunyani (B/A), Nov 22, GNA- A five-day training of trainers workshop aimed at building their capacities of giving technical assistance to districts and groups that want to set up health insurance schemes in Brong Ahafo, ended in Sunyani on Friday.

It was organized by Partners for Health Reformplus (PHRplus) - Ghana, in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Ministry of Health for 25 participants selected from some parts of the region.

Alhaji Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, in an address called on the participants to justify their selection as agents of change in the health delivery system.

He reminded them that the workshop was aimed at training them to assist in the formation of the Mutual Health Insurance Scheme in their communities. "The success or otherwise of the proposed national health insurance scheme will depend on you", he told the participants and urged them to intensify public education on the issue in their communities.

Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sunyani said the National Health Insurance Scheme was in fulfilment of the government's promise to scrap the "cash-and-carry" system.

He said the scheme would ease the burden imposed on the people by the cash-and-carry mode of payment, which he said had made many sick people to become scared of seeking medical attention because of poverty.

Mr. Baffour-Awuah said the proposed mutual health insurance system was modelled on a system already initiated before the current NPP and asked Ghanaians to embrace it to ensure its success.

Mr. Maxwell Baffoe-Twum, Ashanti Regional Programme Officer of PHRplus said the organisation, in collaboration with the Brong Ahafo Regional technical team on Mutual Health Organisations (MHOs), had tried to build the capacity of the teams to give technical assistance to Districts and groups that wanted to set up health insurance schemes.

He said PHRplus is a USAID-funded project that provides technical assistance for health reforms around the world and all over Africa, including Ghana. It had in collaboration with other partners actively supported the development and growth of MHOs.

Mr Baffoe-Twum said PHRplus' technical assistance support had basically been in the form of capacity building, including training and assistance on start ups, managing and sustaining the scheme through feasibility studies, development and dissemination of management tools and evaluation and technical advice to the schemes.

The Programme Officer said the main aim of the workshop was to train resource persons who would in turn give technical support to MHOs in districts in the region.

The participants were taken through Financial Management, Financial Monitoring, Evaluation, Costing, Setting of Benefits, and Payment Mechanism.