Release funds to save NHIS from collapse - Minority

The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to immediately release funds to save the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) from collapse.

They said the challenges facing the scheme were so enormous that almost all key stakeholders in the NHIS were bleeding financially and have threatened to withdraw their services or had already withdrawn their services.

“Today, the Chamber of Pharmacy which provides pharmaceutical products and other medical consumables to healthcare providers under the NHIS have withdrawn their services and have indicated that any health facility owing them for more than three months could no longer enjoy their services unless payment guarantees were made,” it said.

Calm situation

At a press conference on the potential collapse of the NHIS in Parliament yesterday, the Minority Ranking Member on Health, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said: “This development is adversely affecting the NHIS. Usually, what any responsible government would have done is to calm the situation by assuring service providers of prompt payment and make frantic efforts to do same.”

Woes of service providers

Mr Akandoh who was joined by other members of the Minority caucus in Parliament said currently several health facilities belonging to the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) have had their power disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana due to accumulation of unpaid bills.

He named some of the facilities that had submitted their claims up to January this year as: St Mary's Hospital, Drobo in the Bono Region; St Francis Clinic, Saviefe in the Volta Region; Benito Menno Hospital, Dompoase in the Ashanti Region and the Presbyterian Health Centre, Enchi in the Western-North Region.

He said the institutions claimed that they also owed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Ghana Revenue Authority and the ECG and had not been able to make good on their debts due to delays by the NHIA to reimburse them.

In addition, he said, about 400 health facilities had been put before court for various reasons including failure to pay up utility bills they owe and inability to to pay SSNIT contributions of their workers.

Situation getting worse

Mr Akandoh said, the President had stated in his State of the Nation Address in 2018 that all arrears that the NHIS owed had been cleared and that the health needs of the people had also seen improvement, “which is not what service providers are saying.”

“In fact, when he chaired the 28th World Day of the Sick and the official opening of St. Pauline clinic, the Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, Most Rev Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum said the NHIS was getting worse.

“According to the Bishop, the NHIS owed Christian healthcare facilities about GHC87 million for the months of March to November last year.

Capping payment of claims

Mr Akandoh said the introduction of the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act 2017 (Act 947), which applied to NHIS was contributing to the collapse of the insurance scheme.

“Instructively, while critical thinkers are of the opinion that there is the need for other viable alternative means of funding the NHIS, this insensitive government is rather busily siphoning money in the name of capping.

For example, he said, in 2017 the National Health Insurance (NHI) levy collected was GHC2, 233,912,183, the amount alloted was GH¢1,814,537,436 and the amount capped was GH¢419,374,747.

“The capped amount could have completed some abandoned hospitals projects began by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government or constructed over 1000 Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) CHPS compounds.

“Last year, the NHI levy collected was GH¢2,381,014,749, amount alloted was GHC1, 692,678,294 and the amount capped was GHC688, 336, 455,” he added.

So far this year, he said, the budgeted NHI levy was GHC2, 582,257,802 and the amount to be alloted is GH¢2,191,615,926, while the amount to be capped is GHC390, 638,876.

“NHIS beneficiaries and service providers are handicapped today because of this capping law. Capping is negatively affecting payment of claims and causing untold hardship to service providers,” he added.