Ministry will support institutions to function — Health Minister
The Minister of Health has assured institutions under the ministry that the government will provide the requisite facilities to enable the staff to perform their duties efficiently and effectively.
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He also called on the staff to be alert and ensure that the best medical services were provided to Ghanaians.
The Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, said this when he visited three institutions under the Ministry, namely, the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
NHIA
At the NHIA, the minister said the work of the authority was important as it provided financial risk protection against the cost of basic quality health care for Ghanaians.
He indicated that the people of Ghana were depending on the NHIS for access to health care and, therefore, the performance of the scheme was not negotiable.
Dr Agyeman-Mensah pledged his support to the management and staff, and assured them that his doors would always be opened for discussions in order to ensure the success of the scheme, adding that “It is my job to ensure that you perform creditably and I am committed to that cause.”
The Chief Executive Officer of NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, informed the minister that the scheme had grown tremendously in the last few years as all key performance indicators had shown positive results and a lot more were being done to enhance the subscriber experience.
He explained that the increasing number of people using the NHIS had put a higher financial burden on the scheme.
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Mr Mensah stated that the scheme paid GH¢748 million in claims in 2013, compared to GH¢362 million and GH¢7.6 million in 2009 and 2005 respectively.
Ghana Health Service
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, told the minister that there was the need to pay more attention to neonatal care to save the lives of newborn babies.
He expressed concern about the number of doctors posted to some regions in the country, describing it as woefully inadequate.
He said Accra and Kumasi alone took 70 per cent of doctors, while the remaining 30 per cent were spread to the other regions.
At the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr Gilbert Buckle, said the hospital had put in place measures to handle the Ebola disease as it had prepared an isolation ward and trained staff to handle the disease.