NHIA begins paying arrears to CHAG members: Others withdraw services to NHIS card holders

The CHAG is the administrative body of 19 churches operating health facilities in the country and provides about 42 per cent of the healthcare needs of the people, especially those in deprived communities.

The Communications Consultant at the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Eric Ametor-Quarmyne, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the NHIA was running a three-month credit arrangement with the service providers and that what they (the service providers) were demanding were their claims which had not been paid.

He said disbursement started on Friday, March 8 to the five regions and gave an assurance that the other regions would soon receive their share of funds.

The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in a separate interview, told the Daily Graphic that she had received a copy of the payment advice and added that she, together with the Chief Executive of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, was at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department yesterday to effect the disbursement.  

Ms Ayittey intervened to resolve what would have been a major health crisis this week.

Meanwhile, the CHAG medical facilities in the Upper East Region have complied with directives not to accept National Health Insurance Scheme cardholders as a result of a backlog of debt owed them by the NHIA, reports Benjamin Xornam Glover from Bolgatanga.

The General Manager of the Presbyterian Health Service, Northern Sector, Mr John Abugri, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic by telephone, said the decision to resort to cash and carry system was to save the facilities from further sufferings as a result of non-payment for services rendered under the scheme.

Checks by the Daily Graphic at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, as well as the Garu Presbyterian Hospital yesterday March 11, 2013, indicated that staff were attending to NHIS cardholders already on admission before the directive was issued, as well as expectant mothers and emergency cases.

They maintained that those services were being rendered on humanitarian grounds and in line with the directive from the CHAG.

Some clients who spoke to the Daily Graphic called on the government to settle its financial commitment to the CHAG institutions, since they played a vital role in meeting the health needs of the people.

They contended that if the protest continued for a long time, it would create a serious health problem for many people in the area, considering the fact that most people depended on the CHAG facilities to access health care.

In February this year, members of the Association of Private Health Care Providers (APHCP) in the region also threatened to resort to cash and carry as a result of failure by the NHIA to meet its financial obligation of reimbursing the health facilities.

The Regional Secretary of the APHCP, Mr Frank Fuseini, at a meeting in Bolgatanga said hitherto the delays in NHIS reimbursement was usually between two and four months on the average. However, the current situation was over six months for most of the facilities in the region, especially for those under the Bawku and Bolgatanga Mutual Health Insurance Scheme.

He said under the circumstances providers were faced with numerous challenges with regard to health service delivery in the region.

Vincent Amenuveve reports from Tamale that patients who seek medical services at the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Hospital in Tamale under the NHIA are being turned away.

According to the authorities of the hospital, a letter dated March 11, 2013 and signed by the CHAG directed all member health institutions to withdraw all services to NHIS cardholders.

The authorities told the Daily Graphic that although there had been a meeting with the ministries of Health and Finance, the CHAG had reminded all its members that until “all outstanding claims from September to December 2012 were paid in full, services to health insurance clients should be under the cash and carry system”.

Meanwhile some patients have expressed disappointment with the issue and called on the government to intervene to ameliorate the suffering of the poor in the metropolis.

Story by Sebastian Syme