Government to cancel NHIS capitation programme

Europa

July 17, 2017 9:54 AM

The policy was to enable subscribers select a primary health care facility where they will seek healthcare on regular basis

___6806368___https:______static.pulse.com.gh___webservice___escenic___binary___6806368___2017___6___8___18___8122016105916_nhis1_1

Government would soon scrap the National Health Insurance Capitation Policy, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo has said.

The policy, which was to enable subscribers select a primary health care facility where they will seek healthcare on regular basis, was first piloted in the Ashanti Region in 2012.

It was also meant to be extended to other regions, but that never materialised.

Addressing the 25th Ashanti regional annual delegates’ conference of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Kumasi on Sunday, the Senior Minister said that he believes the policy was not ideal for the people and so could not be extended by its implementers.

He said that cabinet has met on the issue and an official announcement to cancel the policy will soon be made.

“We have met to discuss the National Health Insurance Capitation Policy. We introduced it in the Ashanti Region but it failed so government will cancel it. If something is not good, you have to stop it. So soon, government will come out with an announcement on that,” he said.

But in a response, the deputy public affairs director of the NHIA, Oswald Essumah Mensah, said the policy will not be cancelled but will be expanded.

According to him, preparations are underway to begin the expansion across the country.

“There were challenges that engulfed the implementation of the program at the time it was being implemented. Since then, we have tried to learn the lessons as to why the program wasn’t that successful in the Ashanti region. About two years ago, we had some funding from the USAID who assisted the NHIA to scale up capitation for the rest of the country. So there was a lot of lessons learnt from the experience in the Ashanti region which informed the fact that we had to do more extensive stakeholder engagement and public sensitization in a phased approach to be able to enroll it across the country.

“So we were able to have a stakeholder engagement in the Upper East, Upper West and Volta regions. As we speak, those regions are ready to implement capitation on a full scale, and we also in talks with the USAID who have expressed the willingness again to fund the stakeholder engagement and proper education and sensitization across the six other regions. As far as I am aware, we are on course to roll it across the country,” he told Accra-based Starr FM.

He, however, added: “There are some challenges however in the Ashanti region for which reason the new Chief Executive Dr. Anoh met with practitioners or providers in the Ashanti region a couple of months ago to listen to their concerns and to learn, at first-hand, what the issues have been in the region and why it hasn’t gone across the country”.

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

Get rewards worth up to $20 when selected to participate in our exclusive focus group. Your input will help us to make informed decisions that align with your needs and preferences.

I've got feedback!

Europa