Health Minister Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu has said the National Health Insurance Scheme is about taking off after it was left gasping for breath under the Mahama administration.
According to him, prudent decisions and actions taken by the Akufo-Addo government since they took over in December have drastically changed the outlook of the health scheme.
Speaking at the meet the press series in Accra Thursday, Dr. Agyemang Manu gave the assurance that the scheme will be lifted to the standard that will be appreciated by all Ghanaians.
“The scheme went back on its knees but now because of deliberate efforts, it is crawling, we are taking the measures that will see it trotting and running back again,” he said.
He recounted: “In recent times the service providers can go months without payment but now the payment is current and health providers will tell you that even though we are not yet there, the situation has improved and we are now comfortable.”
The NHIS which was started by former President John Kufuor currently has about 11 million subscribers, down from a high of 11.3 million. In 2016, 30% of the Ministry of Health’s ¢4.9 billion budget went into the scheme. And yet the new government inherited a debt of ¢1.2 billion.
In June this year, President Akufo-Addo said, “The scheme has been threatened by mismanagement and by huge indebtedness. We are now trying to liquidate systematically the arrears so that the service providers can be encouraged to provide service for NHIS cardholders”.
Source: Ghana/StarrFMonline.com/103.5FM
