Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri Constituency, has disclosed that the Government of Ghana has re-capitalized the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
According to the Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri Constituency, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has released an amount of GHS50 million to the scheme, noting that the Scheme is one of the beneficiaries of the latest financial release from the government.
“Not just the GH¢25 million goods and services. There was also a release of GH¢50 million to the NHIS… And that has been confirmed by the Controller and NHIA has also accordingly confirmed the amount.”
Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, while addressing the press noted that the recent struggle of the NHIS is not because of inadequate funds or inadequate legislation but purely the result of poor public financial management of the fund.
Mr. Akandoh charged the Minister of Finance to stop the diversion of NHIS funds which he said is in clear violation of the Act establishing the scheme.
“What makes matters even worse is that his lies about the replacement of NHIA cards with Ghana Card are also false. This Year’s allocation provides some GH¢54.60million for the printing of some 2.6million NHIA cards at GH¢21.00 each.
“We cannot continue to lie our way into solving critical national problems. We cannot also continue to ignore flagrant violations of laws enacted to ensure good healthcare for all Ghanaians. We cannot allow the future of the scheme to be hijacked by Nana Akufo-Addo and his law-breaking Finance Minister.”
Mr. Akandoh
NHIS Not Working Under the Current Government
The Member of Parliament for the Juaboso constituency explained that the Scheme is clearly not working under the current government compare to the previous government.
“In 2020 out of the GH¢2.337billion Ghanaians paid as NHIL and SSNIT contributions for the fund, only GH¢790.29m or 31% was released to address claims for the year (2020). 2019 figures were GH¢721.09m out of GH¢1,262.92 or 57%. 2018 figures were GH¢506.80 out of 1,579.49m or 32%. We will want to emphasize that since Nana Akufo-Addo took over as President an average of 41.2% of collections due to the NHIS has been released compared to 73.25% under President Mahama.”
Mr. Akandoh
Mr. Akandoh alleged that the National Health Insurance Scheme is collapsing, but added that it is not because of inadequate funds or inadequate contributions, rather, it’s because of mismanagement.
Earlier in the month, the Minority Caucus in Parliament bemoaned the effects of fund capping and the undue delay in releases of funds to the scheme for its operations. The Minority in Parliament had been complaining that the government has failed to fulfill its obligations to these providers since July 2021.
In addition, Health Service Providers on the National Health Insurance Scheme also bemoaned the delay in the disbursement of claims by the government for services they have rendered under the scheme.
According to the group, they have not received payment for their services since July 2021, and several attempts to have the Ministry of Health address their grievances have failed. This latest disbursement, however, will provide some form of relief for beneficiaries.
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