With no message for the electorate as Ghana heads to the polls this December, NPP flag-bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, has tried to make the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) one of his targets by peddling false information about it and then pledging to reform it in a bid to hoodwink the electorate to vote for him. Unfortunately for him, however, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah, will not let him have his way and has successfully thwarted the NPP’s flag-bearer’s efforts.

On the campaign trail, among the specific allegations that Akufo-Addo has levelled against the managers of the scheme is his claim that children can only access the scheme if they parents are registered on it. He therefore pledged his administration will offer all children under 18 years free access to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), if the NPP was voted into office in the December polls.

He also alleged that the capitation method introduced on a pilot basis in Kumasi by the NHIA is killing the scheme and generally, that the scheme is dying because of mismanagement.

Having given Akufo-Addo a long rope to hang himself, Sylvester Mensah and his management fired the first salvo at him on Wednesday, October 11, 2012 when they issued a statement cautioning politicians against playing politics with the NHIS pointing out that the scheme is very important and must not be toyed with.

Determined to halt Akufo-Addo in his tracks, the NHIA five days later (Monday, October 15, 2012) organized a media encounter at the Alisa Hotel for journalists from the various media houses. In attendant were even journalists from pro-NPP media houses who have been acting as a medium for the falsehood Akufo-Addo has been peddling.

The media encounter was addressed by Sylvester Mensah himself and for almost four hours, while standing on his feet, took the media personnel through all aspects of the NHIS, from its history through its operations and finances. It was an exhaustive and thought-provoking lecture that left journalists present in any doubt that while the Sylvester Mensah-led administration of the NHIA inherited a moribund NHIS system from the NPP, one which was to collapse by 2009, they have turned its operations around through sound management practice. As a result, even though the number of people who have subscribed to the scheme has tripled in the last three years without any corresponding increase in the percentage of money allocated to it through taxation, the scheme is more vibrant than ever.

Sylvester Mensah explained how they have been able to pluck the loopholes through which some were duping the scheme of millions of Ghana cedis and how money paid to service providers is quicker now than ever.

On the claim by Akudo Addo that it was wrong for the NHIA to start the piloting of the capitation programme in the Ashanti Region because pilot projects are not started at densely populated areas, Sylvester Mensah proved that the NPP flag-bearer does not understand the capitation programme nor why it had to be started in the Ashanti Region.

Using data and diagrams, the CEO explained to the journalists how the amount of money that the NHIA is spending in the Ashanti Region is highest in the country and more than the number of people accessing the scheme for which reason the most sensible thing to do is to start the capitation from there since its primary aim is to pluck the loopholes through which people are abusing the system.

On Akufo Addo’s claim that children in Ghana cannot asses the NHIS unless they have parents who are registered members of the scheme, subscribers , and his promise to abolish that system if he is elected President comes to power, the CEO said the NPP flag-bearer’s comments is testimony that he is ignorant of the NHIS’s operations.

According to him, under the current laws of the scheme, children under 18 years are already covered without they having to be tied to their parents’ contributions and described Nana Addo’s promise as “pathetic”.

At the end of the media encounter, the doubting Thomases, were left bewildered about Akufo-Addo’s decision to tackle the NHIA and the NHIS when it is obvious that he does not understand their operations.

Many journalists could be seen congratulating Sylvester Mensah with some expressing disgust about the falsehoods the NPP flag-bearer has been peddling about the NHIS.

Apparently determined to ensure that Akfuo Addo does not get away with his lies, the CEO made himself available to a number of TV and radio stations during the week. He was grilled about the NHIS and his answers left many scratching their heads wondering what Akufo-Addo is up to claiming the NHIS is collapsing.

It is certain that the CEO of the NHIA and his team are not going to end their pursuit of Akudo-Addo’s lies anytime soon since the NPP flag-bearer, perhaps in pursuit of his “all-die-be-die” mantra has decided not to relent in continuing peddling falsehoodS about the NHIS whether he has been exposed or not!

Ghana’s NHIS under the NDC government has received commendations from stakeholders around the world leading to some countries sending their personnel to come and study how it is being operated to enable it be implemented in their country. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) singled it out for the coveted South-South Cooperation Excellence Award in Geneva, Switzerland in 2010 during the Global South-South Development Expo 2010 from November 22 to November 26 that year.

Presenting the award to Ghana, Dr. Josephine Ojiambo, Deputy Permanent Representative and President of the High-Level Committee for South-South Cooperation, cited the Sylvester mensah-led administration of the NHIA for playing host to a number of developing countries intending to improve upon their health insurance schemes and hoped that Ghana would sustain and achieve further successes through its home-grown demand-driven initiatives and strategies.