NHIS Suspended In Hospitals!...4.8 Million Lives In Danger   11-Mar-2013

Sherry Ayitey - Min. Of health       Thousands of patients who seek medical care at the various Mission hospitals across the country would be turned away today if they produce their valid National Health Insurance Card since it is no more recognized at those hospital facilities. The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), which acts on behalf of 19 churches which operate health facilities and caters for about 33 percent of the total health care needs of Ghanaians, says its hospitals cannot continue to render services which are not paid for and have decided to “revert to cash and carry”. According to a communiqué issued last week, the NHIA owed the 183 health facilities under the association, in excess of 50 million Ghana Cedis as at the end of January 2013. CHAG said it will reconsider its decision to suspend services to NHIS cardholders only when outstanding claims were paid in full. The Health Minister on Friday openly promised to settle the huge debt latest by today and appealed to the group to rescind its decision but it remains adamant. According to the communiqué signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Gilbert Buckle, CHAG hospital Mangers were struggling to pay the salaries of their staff members as well as for medical supplies. “The churches have decided that this is not a tenable situation. It is not in the interest of the people at large…at the end of the day, we have outstanding debt, institutions are taking bank overdrafts; we cannot buy drugs, we cannot buy other inputs and even if they pay us all that money today, we will still have an outstanding debt because the tariff structure does not meet the actual cost”. “And in the interest of the public, we will have to revert to cash and carry,” the group lamented. The Chief Executive of the NHIA, Sylvester Mensah also appealed to the hospitals to rescind their decisions and to accept the patients, while assuring them that all outstanding claims will be paid but Dr. Buckle, however said although they welcome the intervention by government, they were not in the position to immediately call off their planned action.