The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused government of diverting ¢1 billion of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) funds into projects outside its mandate.
According to them, the monies are being used for projects which are averse to the core objectives of the Scheme at the time it is struggling to offset debts owed service providers.
They claim that the National Health Insurance Authority in 2018 expended over ¢160 million of the Scheme’s funds to pay nursing trainee allowances.
Another ¢5 million which has been devoted to corporate social responsibility for this year is a worry for the NDC who do not see the need.
At a press conference dubbed ‘The Moment of Truth’, Communications Officer of the party, Samuel Gyamfi said government’s claim that the Scheme is “buoyant and has come back to life” is not a true representation of the facts.
“The truth of the matter is that the NHIS, very known to the President, is in a deplorable state and gasping for liquidity breath. Currently, the NHIS owes service providers in all the sixteen regions of Ghana claims covering a period of almost twelve (12) months. This has landed most health care facilities in distress.
“For instance, the Daily Graphic reported on Thursday, 28th March 2019 that the Central Regional Hospital is on its knees begging to be paid an amount of GH¢6.1 million owed to it by the Scheme, in order to settle its indebtedness to suppliers of critical drugs and medical consumables. This is just one example of how our health facilities are being crippled as a result of the huge indebtedness of the NHIS to service providers,” he said.
Below is a copy of the full statement:
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