Gov’t Inherited GH¢1.2bn NHIS Debt – Akufo-Addo

The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government left behind GH¢ 1.2 billion debt at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), says President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The President, however, disclosed that his government through the Ministry of Health has paid GH¢ 560 million of the debt and was working tirelessly to settle all to revive the Scheme.

He was speaking at the launching of the restoration of the nurses and midwives’ trainee allowances on Tuesday in Sunyani.

The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government scrapped the allowance in 2014, under which nursing trainees got at least GH¢450.00 every quarter.

But, during the 2016 electioneering period, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo promised to restore the allowance for the trainees to go through a smooth training to serve the nation.

With the reinstatement, about 58,000 trainee nurses and midwives are expected to receive GH¢ 400 allowance.

President Akufo-Addo stressed the government’s determination to resuscitate the NHIS,

implement good and pragmatic policies and build the country beyond aid.

“We believed, and still believe, that Ghana needs all the nurses and healthcare workers she can get, if the nation is to have a solid, world-class healthcare system, and we think it necessary to provide the relevant incentives to make that possible”, he said.

The President told the joyous trainee nurses who had gathered at the Sunyani Nursing and Midwifery Training College that “the pledge was not mere political rhetoric and campaign talk, neither was it to deceive nursing trainees in order to get their votes. It was much more than that”.

Source: thePublisher