Health News of Thursday, 8 June 2017

Source: mynewsgh.com

Scrap NHIS capitation now or I will demonstrate - Dodovi

Francis Dodovi is former Spokesperson for the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council Francis Dodovi is former Spokesperson for the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has been issued a month ultimatum to scrap the capitation under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Francis Dodovi, a former Spokesperson for the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and past government appointee of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and national Democratic Congress (NDC) communicator, has threatened to embark on a one-man demonstration if government fails to scrap it.

“The same person who has been appointed as the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr Nsiah Asare made political gains out of it. He claimed the NHIS capitation was meant to fleece residents of the Ashanti region and promised scrap it when the party is voted into power. They are in power now and I want them to scrap it. I am daring them to scrap capitation in health institutions because they say it is bad. They have a month to do that else I will embark on a one-man planned demonstration”, he disclosed to mynewsgh.com in an exclusive interview.

According to him, the capitation implemented by the previous administration was to better the health sector and to save wastage in the system but the NPP because of political expediency said it was to exploit residents of the Ashanti region which was one of the areas selected for piloting the project.

He revealed that the Ashanti regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2012 staged a demonstration in Kumasi against the implementation of the capitation policy in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the region.

But Mr Dodovi said the policy was in the right direction to improve the health status of the people in the region, private health providers accredited by the scheme and challenged them to scrap it if they claim it is not beneficial.