Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy has expressed concern about the National Health Insurance Authority’s (NHIA) delay in paying claims to its service providers.

According to the Chamber, the last payment made by the NHIA to service providers was months ago, a situation that had made it difficult for them to provide medicines on credit to health institutions.

Samuel Kwame Boadu, the administrative officer and Digital Marketing Consultant of the Chamber raised these concerns at a meeting with GIZ Ghana’s Investing for Employment.

He said the pharma sector might soon take drastic steps against the NHIS service providers to compel them to pay for their supplies on time.

“We will soon commence an action whereby the hospitals shall be made to provide payment guarantee from reputable banks before we supply products to them on credit,” he said.

In the Chairman of Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy, Pharm. Harrison Abutiate opening address, he stated that Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy (GNCoP) is the unified voice of Pharma industry of Ghana and that the Chamber advocates, connects, inform and fight for pharmaceutical growth in Ghana.

He then went on to recap a meeting with Bank of Ghana (BoG) to deliberate on BoG’s credit referencing system since they chamber believes that dealing with credible clients will enhance our financial fortunes.

He proceeded to welcome the Investing For Employment (IFE) team and thanked them for making time to meet members of the chamber to further explain and present on how members of the chamber can take advantage of this grant.

“GNCoP welcomes this collaboration with IFE to have this workshop on co-financing projects, so that our members will have a hands-on experience in sourcing for funds for their projects,” Pharm. Harrison Abutiate added.

Samuel Kwame Boadu also called on the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to review the cost of registration of new products and reduce the long periods in approving new medicines to help the Chambers members remain in business.

He observed that the cost of medicines in Ghana was the highest in Africa due to high exchange rates and high cost of product registration.