Accra, Aug. 15, GNA - Reverend Dr Charles Abban, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Hospital, a private health facility in Accra, on Monday appealed to government to take social interventions which brought much relief to Ghanaians, particularly the poor seriously. "Every government should be serious with national programmes such as National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and School Feeding Programme which are great social interventions that brings much relief to Ghanaians, particularly the poor," he added.

Rev. Abban, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a survey on the Scheme said: 93The NHIS is particularly the best policy which should not be withdrawn because it is beneficial to both government and the people."

Some Ghanaians interviewed recently within Accra Metropolis expressed worry about the services received from health centres. They described the services rendered to those registered with the Scheme as 93unsatisfactory compared to its inception in the country". They contended that in the past they did not pay for health services under the scheme, but now most service providers had devised various methods including paying for new folders, laboratory tests and injections as a means of extorting monies from them. "Although the scheme had been in existence for some time, clients continued to waste time to pick their folders before the necessary information were taken by health personnel to enter consulting rooms," they lamented.

Dr Abban said most people could access quality health care under the Scheme thereby improving their health status with its ripple effects on the national economy.

"Before the inception of the scheme, most patients resorted to purchasing medicines from chemical and pharmacy shops without prescriptions and only reported to health centres and hospitals in critical conditions, but now patients freely attend health centres and hospital promptly on the detection of any symptoms of sicknesses. "This helps to avoid critical conditions which sometimes lead to prolong hospitalisation or even death," he added.

Dr Abban commended government's determination in ensuring that the Scheme was well sustained and made to cover majority of Ghanaians, since service providers were strengthening their efforts towards the sustenance of the scheme by continuing to institute measures to improve the quality of health care delivery to clients. "This emphasizes our determination to support government in improving the health of its people," he stressed. Mrs Benedicta Elizabeth Kissi, Co-director, Deseret Hospital, Accra, stressed the need to sustain the Scheme but urged authorities to regularly reimburse health facilities on time to enable them to continue to provide such valuable services to the people. She said 93When reimbursement is delayed for a long time, we are unable to have enough funds to purchase medicines for our numerous patients and pay staff on time.

"This has compelled us to sometimes charge for new folders, injections and other services just to help us sustain our operations while we wait for reimbursement."

Mr Kofi Boateng, a patient said: 93I spent about an hour-and-a-half at the records department before my folder was picked for me though there were not much people at this private facility. By the time I had my folder the doctor had closed for the day and had to wait for the next doctor for the afternoon in great pain." Madam Mercy Lartey, a client said although some facilities advertised for 24-hour services they did not have enough doctors to cater for patients in the afternoon and during the night leaving medical attention for nurses who could not provide quality health care to patients.

She noted that most often providers gave inadequate drugs, and directed patients to either collect or buy the rest at pharmacy shops where the drugs were mostly not available or were sold to them. Some people interviewed appealed to health professionals, especially nurses to be courteous to patients and appealed to stakeholders in the health sector to intervene to ensure that the Scheme was properly managed for the benefit of all Ghanaians.