Ashanti Regional Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme; Mr. Nurudeen Bawa has dismissed claims that the scheme is on the verge of collapse.
Chief of Asaman; Barima Owusu Sekyere lamented during a visit by NPP flagbearer; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that all is not well with the scheme. ” The Health Insurance scheme is in a state of crisis as subscribers now pay for even paracetamol, unlike during the days of former President Kufour”, he said at his Palace.
Mr. Nurudeen Bawa however tells rawgist.com that the information put out by the chief is “untrue as subscribers will be the best judges”. “I will not respond to the chief or what any politician says but if anyone tells me 2005/06 is the same as 2006/07, I will have a problem with his analysis”, he explained adding that “prices of medicines have gone up almost a thousand percent but premiums remain the same since the inception of the scheme while membership continues to grow significantly”.
He says contrary to rumors of collapse, the scheme is rather being sanitized and made better in order to benefit Ghanaians. He calls on subscribers to renew their subscriptions and encouraged non-subscribers to register in order to access affordable and excellent medical care.
He cautioned politicians to desist from toying with the health of the citizenry and rather make issues of health a primary concern devoid of unnecessary politicking that does not inure to the benefit of Ghanaians.
He was also excited about the capitation system and says it is helping sanitize “the system”, explaining that it has made it difficult of service providers to inflate figures and fraudulently obtain money. Mr. Nurudeen reveals that the NHIS will soon roll out plans to name and shame providers whose activities are inimical to the progress of the scheme.
