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The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey has disclosed that Ghana�s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) accounts for over 85% of internally generated funds of public and faith-based health facilities in the country. The impact, she noted, is not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector where up to 90% of the revenue of some private healthcare provides comes from the NHIS. Ms Ayittey made these known at the opening ceremony of the NHIS@10 International Conference which is underway in Accra, to climax activities of the 10th anniversary of the scheme. She added: �There is no gain-saying the fact that the NHIS has become critical in the financing of healthcare in Ghana and has made auxiliary contributions to the growth and development of the private healthcare industry of the economy�. We need, therefore, to work towards more efficient partnerships for health at country level. Country�owned national strategic health plan that identify local priorities and high impact cost effective investment, the minister stated. Ms Ayittey was quick to state: �We are convinced and committed to do one outmost to position health and well-being as an important dimension and outcome of sustainable development, to enable people to survive and live healthy lives.� These critical issues require careful consideration and critical thinking drawing from best practices across the world and within local context. It is for this reason that she believes the theme chosen for the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the NHIS ��Towards Universal Health Coverage: Increasing Enrolment whilst Ensuring Sustainability� � is most appropriate. The 10-year story of the NHIS cannot be told without mentioning the contribution of the international body of knowledge to the progress we have made so far as a nation. Presenting a paper of Ghana�s NHIS, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr. Sylvester Mensah revealed that an amount of GH�616 million was paid as claims to health providers last year. He, however, enumerated a number of challenges facing the NHIS in the country. These, he mentioned, include financial sustainability of the scheme; identification of the poor for the scheme; ID card management; and moral hazard on both demand and supply sides. To sustainability of the scheme, Mr. Mensah noted that measures were put in place arrest the above-mentioned challenges. He mentioned periodic audits, claims processing centre, capitalization, additional funding, and increase in the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) as some of the steps taken to address the challenges. The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho assured the management of the scheme that members of the august House would ensure that the right laws were put in place to strengthen the scheme.