‘Clear arrears or we revert to cash and carry’

Members of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners of Ghana (SPMDPG) have given the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) a two-week ultimatum to pay its six-month outstanding claims or the society would turn away patients with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.

Dwindling logistics

The President of the society, Dr Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, who acted as the spokesperson for the society, said logistics of the 300 private hospitals operating the scheme could last for a week only and, therefore, those hospitals could not risk continuing to pre-finance the cost of caring for patients.

He told a news conference in Kumasi last Sunday that much as it was against the wish of the society to exacerbate the already precarious situation of patients following the nationwide strike by members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), it would have no choice but to revert to the cash-and-carry regime if the NHIA failed to honour its part of the con