Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Upper East Region on Monday called on government to ensure universal access to health care without financial hardship.

The CSOs made up of MIHOSO International, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Coalition of NGOs in Health, SEND Ghana, and BANGO, Essential Service Platform, as part of activities to mark this year’s World Universal Health Coverage (UHC) undertook a route march through the Bolgatanga Municipality and later presented a communiqué to the Deputy Regional Minister at the Regional Coordinating Council.

The Regional Coordinator of UHC, Mr Thomas Abangbire, who presented the communiqué on behalf of the CSOs to the Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme, said in 2012, the United Nations unanimously endorsed the commemoration of Universal Health Coverage on 12th December, each year, urging governments to ensure universal access to health care without financial hardship.

“This landmark commitment affirmed the right of every person to have the opportunity for the highest standard of health care”.

The CSOs indicated that the panacea to the Universal Access to Healthcare was the National Health Insurance Scheme and called on the Ministry of Finance to ensure that many more Ghanaians especially the poor, women and marginalized accessed health services easily.

The group also urged the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to continue to work towards removing all the bottle necks, make the scheme more efficient and work towards making it easily accessible to all Ghanaians.

“We believe that every Ghanaian should access healthcare without necessarily paying at the point of use.”

They indicated that more than 70 countries had passed laws for UHC and urged government to implement a progressive and equitable tax reform to financially sustain NHIS and also identify other creative ways of generating funds to support and sustain NHIS.

The CSOs stressed the need for Government to ensure the equitable distribution of health professionals especially doctors across all districts and regions and improve the working conditions of health professionals especially those posted to the rural areas.

The CSOs stressed the need for the Ministry of Transport to invest in the transportation sectors across the various regions and districts to open up the road networks to enable the rural folks access primary healthcare.