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The Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG) says it will be compelled to demand money from National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card holders if the arrears for services rendered are not paid immediately by the scheme.

According to the Executive Director of HISPAG, Mr Frank Richard Torblu, pressure from pharmaceutical manufacturing companies on the members of the association to pay for medicines supplied to them was unbearable.

“Now pharmaceutical manufacturing companies are demanding payment before releasing medicines to us and if we don’t look for urgent funds to pay them, our operations will be harmed,” he told the Daily Graphic after a workshop in Accra.

The workshop, which was organised by the Greater Accra leaders of HISPAG, discussed issues confronting the NHIS and how to address them.

Pressure unbearable
According to Mr Torblu, although HISPAG had made attempts to discuss issues with suppliers of medicines, they were hesitant in continuing to supply medicines on credit.

“This is because it takes a long time before the suppliers receive their money as a result of our inability to pay them on time due to government’s delay,” he said.

He said all the challenges the scheme was facing would be over if the government released funds on time to purchase medicines.

Touching on other issues, Mr Torblu called on the government to separate the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) from the NHIS to make the scheme more efficient and independent.

According to him, the NHIA needed to remain independent of the NHIS in order to function effectively, adding, “As it stands now, we do not know which one is handling the scheme”.