The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has paid almost a billion Ghana cedis to service providers nationwide this year, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA has said.
He said the government was well positioning the Authority to contribute meaningfully and to put the nation on the edge to achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) enjoins countries around the globe to work towards achieving the UHC of ensuring that all people access the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them and without financial hardship.
Dr Bampoe assured that with the government support the NHIA would continue to ensure prompt payment of claims to service providers for the nation to achieve the UHC, saying the “payment made to service providers so far shows that the President’s eye is on us and we are doing something very important to Ghanaians in achieving the UHC.”
He was interacting with management of the Sunyani Teaching Hospital on Wednesday as part of his familiarization visit to some health facilities in the Bono Region.
Dr Bampoe said the “Mahama Care” which sought to bridge the gap in communicable diseases and other health interventions introduced by the government was an indication that the nation was poised to achieve the UHC.
He said teaching hospitals remained at the forefront and played an integral role in helping the nation to achieve the UHC and actualising the President’s vision of the “Mahama Care” policy and asked the hospital to work hard to advance the nation’s health outcomes.
Dr Bampoe stressed that the NHIA was working hard to ensure that the nation advanced further on meeting the three pillars upon which the UHC stands, being geographical, service and financial coverage, saying the Authority played a critical role in the financial protection or financial coverage.
“We really need to work hard to make our patients and customers who use the services have a good experience. In fact, we are worried about this illegal payment, and I am happy that something is being done about it.”
Dr Bampoe expressed worry that some health workers had not been promoted for a long time, saying a human resource audit had been instituted to help tackle and correct some of the issues.
Dr Cardinal Newton, the Chief Executive Officer of the Sunyani Teaching Hospital highlighted the history of the Teaching Hospital, saying the facility was working hard to get resources from other activities rather than overlying on the NHIA claims.
He said the facility had about 3,000 staff and was also working hard to promote their welfare as well to enable them to give out their best.
-GNA
