The government would have to find between 70 and 120 billion cedis yearly to replace the cash and carry system and finance health care in public health facilities, Dr. Samuel Adjei, Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, said yesterday.

Dr Adjei said last year 70 billion cedis accrued from payment made directly at the point of service use - the system described as cash and carry - and this figure was expected to rise to 120 billion cedis.

He said revenue from the cash and carry system served as a revolving fund to buy drugs and maintenance of equipment.

Dr Adjei, who was contributing to discussions on a draft national health insurance bill in Accra, said though revenue from the cash and carry system formed only about 20 to 30 per cent of the total cost of health delivery, it was readily available for sustaining running cost.

The Health Ministry organized the seminar for stakeholders in the health sector to discuss the development of a national health insurance scheme.

Dr Adjei said there was no data on estimates of the total cost of health care in public health facilities and work was now being done to compile a data, which is crucial to any meaningful replacement of the cash and carry system.