The Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), has asked government to absorb the cost of registration and renewal for the poor, in order to widen the population coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)
Policy and Advocacy Coordinator of the ARHR, Mr Leonard Shang-Quartey, said, his outfit has made this call because most poor people keep falling off the scheme due to extreme poverty, a situation, which will make it impossible for Ghana to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Speaking at a news briefing in Accra by the Alliance to commemorate the second anniversary of the “Declaration of Astana to strengthen Primary Health Care” in Accra, Mr Shang-Quartey, said that, since the UHC roadmap developed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) would rely on the NHIS to make quality healthcare accessible to all, it will be advisable for Government to assist people who were unable to enrol on the scheme due to economic reasons.
According to him, , healthcare must not only be made available to all, but also accessible to all, irrespective of a person’s social class or location.
“We call for a comprehensive and foundational essential health service package to be guaranteed for everyone living in Ghana to ensure that all persons are able to access basic health care at all times.”
Director of Programmes at ARHR, Nii Ankonu Annorbah-Sarpei also speaking, noted that, Government must ensure that the Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) system is made effective to serve its purpose of promoting preventive care.
In his view, making the CHPS functional by encouraging Community Health Nurses to visit schools and homes to educate people on the need to adopt healthy living habits would ease the burden on people and reduce the huge funds spent on curative care.
Nii Annorbah-Sarpei further intimated that, a recent study showed that, only 13 per cent of CHPS selected for verification were functional, an indication that there was much to be done in ensuring that quality healthcare services reached everyone in Ghana.
He then called for the provision of a national policy on Primary Health Care (PHC) to guide an inter-sectoral collaboration and coordination for the effective implementation of primary healthcare services which focuses on both disease prevention and clinical care.
The Astana Declaration was made by world leaders in October 25th and 26th 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
They committed themselves to make bold political choices to prioritise disease prevention and health promotion to build sustainable Primary Health Care (PHC) systems in their respective countries.
Astana aims at meeting the health needs of all persons through the provision of a comprehensive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative services and palliative health care.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), is social intervention program established by the Government, with a goal to provide equitable access and financial coverage for basic health care services to Ghanaian citizens. This scheme was established in 2003 by the then Kufuor government to abolish the cash and carry system of health delivery in the country.
