Ho, June 29, GNA - Mr Divine Azameti, Deputy Director of Pharmaceutical Services of the Ghana Health Service at the weekend urged government to support the health sector to expand service delivery in the country.

He said this has become necessary now because, "the populace has been empowered financially to access healthcare" through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), so it was equally important to improve on people's access to health services.

Mr Azameti was speaking at a day's stakeholders meeting organized by the Inter Agency Steering Committee of the NHIS in Ho. "This is the only surest way of linking the performance of the schemes in terms of health financing with the impact on the final goals of the health delivery system", he said.

Mr Azameti described the National Health Insurance Scheme as one of the greatest things that had happened to the health sector and urged stakeholders to support each other for the sustenance of the programme which, he said, has no alternative in health financing in the country. "The introduction of the NHIS is alleviating situations where people live without access to medical care and medicines so we must also help the institutions supporting the programme to work effectively for the benefit of all," he stressed.

Mr Azameti called for collaboration from all stakeholders to resolve all bottlenecks associated with the implementation of the scheme to increase the number of subscribers.

Alhaji Mohammed Muniru, Project Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the NHIS said the Scheme had come to stay and urged all stakeholders to sit up and work towards its success. He said efforts were being made including the introduction of ICT platforms to resolve some implementation challenges and called for the support of all.

Alhaji Muniru denied rumours that Scheme Managers appointed by the past government would be fired but advised them to de-politicize their positions to remain at post irrespective of which political party was in power.

"You all must behave as public servants and not politicians to secure your jobs. Concentrate on your work and allow politicians to also do their work," he urged.

Alhaji Muniru noted that poor client service on the part of some health service providers continued to pose a threat to the Scheme, and urged heads of health service providers to regularly sensitize their workers on customer relations and client service to enhance their work.