Ghanaians Lost Trust In NHIS – CEO

The Akufo-Addo government inherited a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which Ghanaians had no confidence in, CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Samuel Yaw Annor has said.

“I think we took over at a point where Ghanaians had lost confidence in the scheme,” Dr Annor told Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Tuesday, 16 January.

He explained: “Because wherever they go that they hold the NHIS card, they are still asked to pay money anyway, they are asked to put the card aside and they had totally lost confidence.”

In Dr Annor’s view, the lack of confidence in the NHIS in the previous administration made it difficult for people to believe that President Nana Akufo-Addo could restore its efficiency when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came into office.

“Although His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had promised the nation that he would restore it, they all assumed that: ‘No, this is just another political talk and they can’t do it and it’s not possible and all that’”.

In September last year, Dr Annor said the NHIA cleared a chunk of the Authority’s over GHS1.2 billion inherited debt.

Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last year, Dr Annor explained that: “Mr chairman, we had about 11 million subscribers but that figure dwindled to 9.7 million because people who visited the hospitals and could not get ready health service refused to renew their subscription; but now because we have started paying the arrears, health service providers have been giving services to subscribers again and that the figure is now appreciating – indicating that hope has been restored in the NHIS.”

Source: ClassFMonline