Kumasi, June 22, GNA - Participants at a stakeholder forum on Monday appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Council to expedite action on the new medicine and tariffs structure to ensure that health facilities continued to offer services to clients. The participants, mostly accredited health care service providers and district scheme managers, said the current economic situation coupled with the increasing cost of drugs on the market, called for an urgent review of the amount paid by the schemes on drugs provided to clients. They said for example that the cost of one insulin injection is GH¢12 on the market but service providers were made to charge GH¢10 from the schemes while amoxicillin bought at GH¢1.25 is sold at GH¢1.0 to clients under the scheme.

The participants also expressed concern about the delay in the payment of claims to service providers and said the situation coupled with the low tariffs was pushing some service providers to incur huge debts, which was affecting the provision of quality service. Nana Kwakye Marfo, a member of the NHIA Council, said government attached great importance to the scheme as a result, it was important that all stakeholders contribute their quotas to ensure its success. Alhaji Dr Mohammed Ibn Ibrahim, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, advised members of the NHIA Council to be very active and function well to solve some of the myriad of challenges facing the scheme.

He stressed the need for the Authority to develop a strategic action plan for the scheme.