The Second Deputy Minority Whip, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, appealed to the government to urgently resolve the “cash and carry” system that health facilities were now resorting to, due to the breakdown of the digitised platform.
The platform, Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), integrates healthcare delivery across health facilities, although it is not owned or managed by the NHIA.
Mr Shaib, who is also the Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe, said the breakdown of the NHIS had compelled most clinics and hospitals to demand money from patients before providing them with healthcare services.
He expressed deep concern over how expectant mothers had to pay between GH¢5,000 and GH¢9,000 to undergo Caesarean Sections (CS) for safe delivery.
“Mr Speaker, for close to two months, the NHIS is not working and people would have to pay before they are provided healthcare services and as I speak, the LHIMS meant for patients to subscribe to healthcare and pay later or not pay at all has also been deactivated, and so we have virtually reverted to the cash and carry system,” he said.
Contributing to the Business statement last Friday, Mr Shaib urged the Leader of Government Business to help resolve the issue.
“Yes, this is not politics because when we are here (Parliament) is to check, and so if you want to do politics as usual, it will not help.
“We are helping in protecting the life of our people; give people the proper healthcare and if there is a breakdown of the system, resolve it immediately so that we can save lives,” Mr Ahmed said, adding that his recent visit to health facilities, including the Weija/Gbawe Municipal Hospital, showed the resort to the “cash and carry” system.
Issue to be resolved
Responding, the Leader of Government Business, Mahama Ayariga, attributed the NHIS system breakdown to the use of two software applications supplied by two entities to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
The two software, he said, had “crippled the process hospitals submitted claims”.
“But I have just been briefed by the NHIA chief executive, who has given the assurance that it will be resolved shortly between the two software providers.
“It has nothing to do with payment of money from the government,” he said.
Assurance
The Chief Executive of the NHIA, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, has been visiting health facilities to assess the impact of the disruption in the national electronic health records and hospital management system that facilitates the operations of the NHIS on members and providers.
This follows reports that some facilities were either turning away scheme members or charging them upfront due to their inability to authenticate them.
Dr Bampoe described the situation as unacceptable, noting that other short- to medium-term measures could be deployed to ensure patients were not charged out of pocket.
“We want our members to have a cash-free experience as much as possible, regardless of the challenge,” he said.
He said he was looking to stakeholders to share ideas on preventing patients from paying out of pocket.
“Perhaps, we may even consider deploying some of our staff to support the facilities and ensure that doesn’t happen,” he said.
Dr Bampoe commended the Ho Teaching Hospital, one of the facilities he visited, for swiftly deploying a manual service authentication and claims documentation process to ensure that NHIS members continue to receive care without paying out of pocket.
He said the NHIA would continue to work closely with the Ministry of Health and other key stakeholders to restore full system functionality as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the authority is coordinating with affected facilities to ensure no NHIS member was denied care.
