The government has announced that it will pay all amounts owed providers under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by the end of April, 2017.

Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who revealed this at the ministry's annual summit in Kumasi on Wednesday, April 19, said government would not wait until the claims accumulate before providers are paid.

“Amounts owed providers, especially Ghana Health Service (GHS) and CHAG (Christian Health Association of Ghana) and the private sector, in respect to May 2016 will be settled by close of this week or early next week,” he revealed.

In addition, he said government would release some amount of money “any moment from now which will enable the authority to settle about three or four months of the arrears by end of May or June this year”.

Mr Agyeman-Manu indicated that government was hoping to undertake “monthly releases” to cater for the cost of health provision under the scheme henceforth.

He admitted that government was aware of the numerous challenges suffered by the scheme and measures were being implemented to ensure that the programme remained vibrant.

According to him, the Health Ministry had initiated processes to restructure the scheme to ensure its sustainability.