Mr. Francis Asante Mensah, Western Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has identified fraudulent claims by contractors, double and over-payment due to over invoicing by service providers, as some of the great challenges facing the operations of the Authority.

He mentioned that other irregular activity was the behaviour of some clients of the service who hopped from one pharmacy to the other for the same service, just to misuse the system

Mr. Asante -Mensah told the Ghana News Agency during a donation of a 10,000-litre Polytank to the Archbishop Porter Girls Senior High that there were lots of cheating both on the part of clients and service providers which was gradually breaking the jaws of the service.

He appealed to service providers and clients of the NHIA to desist from engaging in these activities, to ensure sanity and efficiency.

On the delay in the payment of contractors and service providers, the Regional Director mentioned that the NHIS had a lease period of three months within which to pay, and therefore entreated them to be conscious of this clause in the performance contract.

The introduction of the Capitation Programme, he added, was to complement the current payment methods being used by the NHIA to make the scheme more efficient and prevent the abuse of the health insurance system.

Mr. Asante -Mensah disclosed that another project, “the Biometric” System, had been introduced by the NHIA to deal with such abuses.