Former President John Dramani Mahama says the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will propose a new source of funding for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The NDC flagbearer said the current capping and realignment law is not helping matters because the Scheme’s monies are taken away, and this makes it difficult for its mandate to be fulfilled.
“We are also proposing sources of funding for the [National] Health Insurance [Scheme].”
“The health insurance as it was designed was to cover a period of ten years. We have gone far past that number of years and the subscriber base has increased phenomenally and the funding sources have become insufficient to sustain the health insurance, and so looking at new sources of funding for health insurance will be important.”
Mr. Mahama made this known on Monday, October 21 when he met with executives of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in Accra.
The former president also said there are several abandoned health projects across the country and assured the Association he is committed to aggressively completing them when given the nod again as president in order to ensure Ghanaians have better access to health care. “We talked about operationalizing projects that have been completed but are standing idle like the University of Ghana Medical Centre, the Bank Hospital, the Wa Hospital and several other projects that have been commissioned but are still not operationalised.”
On the distribution of medical personnel across the country, Mr. Mahama said the situation was appalling as the doctor to patient ratio in some parts of the country is ‘abysmal’; as a result a lot more people are deprived of access to quality health care.
He also stressed the need for private participation in the health sector to help in expanding medical care since government alone cannot provide health care for all by 2030 as stated in the SDG Goal 3.
‘Apolitical’
The President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Frank Ankobea, said the meeting with the former president and the NDC team was a “fruitful and encouraging” discussion.
“We probably would have to meet some groups of the NDC and then still go down to some other health policies that they have.” The GMA President said the meeting was “apolitical” as discussions were centered on the health of the Ghanaian.
The NDC has been embarking on what it calls ”ongoing interactive project”.
Mahama to campaign on ‘bottom-up’ manifesto
According to the party, it is preparing to write its 2020 manifesto, hence the decision to reason to solicit views from professional and religions bodies as well as from a cross section of the public.
This, they believe, would help them implement the right policies when the party assumes office again.
Source: 3news.com
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Mahama the free shs program is not yours so why are you using it as your campaign message? After so many years you refused to accept the program was feasible so what is your concern now that it has been fully accepted by Ghanaians. Secondly, which alternative source of funding are you talking about if you can bequeath the nation's wealth to your brother? Get out of sight.
I know doctors are very intelligent people but I wonder why they could ask Mahama the source of that new funding. Also he Mahama left the NHIS GHC 1.2 billion debts on the scheme, they should have questioned him on that.He is now on a free flow, whatever comes into his mind he says it.
When you surround yourself with inept, intellectually bankrupt, unimaginative, vision less, corrupt people, then all you will have are empty rhetoric. Election takes place within a year and after three years of campaigning you have nothing concrete to propose to the electorate for them to take you serious. You have more than a million votes to overcome yet your entourage does not seem to grasp the enormity of what is the task ahead. The electoral landscape and dynamics have changed considerably and therefore the old strategies no longer work. Change or be forced to remain in opposition for a very long time.
To date, no original policy has been proffered by NDC to address social problems. THE OIL MONEY IS ONE VEHICLE THE ORDINARY GHANAIAN CAN HAVE A SHARE OF THE NATIONAL CAKE.IT SHOULD BE EXTENDED TO HEALTHCARE AS WELL.Else only the politicians will benefit.
NDC CANNOT THROW DUST INTO OUR EYES. WHEN THEY PROMISED ONE TIME PREMIUM AND WON THE ELECTIONS WHAT HAPPENED? WERE THEY ABLE TO FULFIL THAT. YOU WERE IN POWER FOR EIGHT YEARS AND COULDNT SOLVE THE FUNDING GAP WHAT HAS CHANGED. THE INCOMPETENT ONE INDEED
What is this at all want in this world. Your party promised one time premium and you your boss the late professor couldn't fulfill. You collapsed NHIS under your tenure and now you are saying what? Massa! find something better and sensible to tell us and stop this your adanko adadaa adwee theories.
When you signed on those never to be used power PURCHASER agreements where did you think we were going to get money to run the system. Come on don't tell us what you do not know.
NDC, Apuuuuu!
Thanks to all the contributors for saying it as it is. We have oil and the revenue is being used to fund state programs like NHIS and FSHS etc. Now the incompetent one is telling us that he will propose other sources of funding for those state programs. This means he plans sharing the oil money with his c.ro.ni.es as in the KREATE, LU>UT and SHARE practices they engaged in in the last eight years they were in power. Mahama has nothing new to put on the table. All he wants to is to chop the small that Akuffo Addo has gathered for our future generations. To hell with JDM and NDC.
Mahama's best attempt at coming close to putting forth any original idea, so far, is this one. Even that he says they WILL "propose a new source of funding". Ah, Mahama. Go and come again with the ACTUAL Proposal. Who asked you to make the statement when you didn't have your proposal ready? A vote for the NDC is equivalent to a year of setting the development clock of Ghana backwards. If they get 1 million votes, you know the number of years they're going to take us back!