Kumasi, April 26, GNA - Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, MP for Manhyia, on Tuesday called on the government to accept useful suggestions from the opposition.

He noted that the billions of cedis and energy wasted on the single National Health Insurance Scheme could have been saved if the government had not brushed aside the Minority's suggestion in 1997 that such a scheme was not viable.

Dr. Addo-Kufuor, who is also the Minority Spokesman on Health, was reacting to the admission by Dr. Moses Adibo, Deputy Minister of Health, that the scheme has been found to be not feasible.

He said the position of the Minority, which has now been vindicated, is that in view of the high dependency ratio, high levels of unemployment and large percentage of people living below the poverty line, it is more appropriate to encourage private insurance schemes.

The MP said communities, religious bodies, employers, associations and workers' groups should be encouraged to set up their own insurance schemes as being done at Nkoranza and elsewhere in the country.

The government's role, he pointed out, should be limited to monitoring, regulating and supervising those schemes when they are in place. Apart from the health insurance scheme, the Minority also suggested useful ways of improving the "Cash and Carry" system to give it a human face and the exemption of paupers from payment of medical fees.

He repeated that accident, obstetric complications, paediatric and emergency surgical cases must be seen by doctors straight away without discussing money.

The MP called for the setting up of exemption committees in all districts to ensure transparency in the operation of the exemption system, adding that the system as it is now being operated lends itself to corruption.