The Chief Executive Officer of Quality Health Hospitals and President of the Association of Private Healthcare Providers (APHCP) in the Upper East Region, Dr. Francis Asaanah, has disagreed with government on claims that suggest it has effected payments of arrears to service providers under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
According to Dr. Asaana, there is not sign that such debts have been cleared as far as his two hospitals are concerned.
Dr. Asaana made these comments in reaction to a formal public statement by President Akufo Addo that government has paid Ghc1 billion out of the Ghc1.2 billion insurance debt inherited from the previous government. The medical practitioner who operates two health centres in Bawku and Garu however seem tickled and amazed by the statement and has questioned government on Day Break Upper East on A1 Radio, why he has not received a “bank alert” if payments have been made.
“If it is true that government has really paid all this amount to insurance, then I’m hundred person sure that it hasn’t reflected in my bank account. I bank with GCB and Bessfa and I have not received any bank alert”. He questioned.
According to Dr. Asaana, he has not been paid his claims for some time now despite making entries for all his health facilities and the several meetings he has held with “big men” on the toll the huge indebtedness is having on his facilities.
He says many health facilities like his are faced with numerous operational challenges in the country as a result of what he describes as a “big disconnect” between the government and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
He was however quick to add that one of his facilities (Quality Hospital in Garu) has received four months payments from the authority out of the over seventeen months arrears.
He appealed to government to rethink their priorities for the health sector and make available funding for the operations of service providers under the health insurance.
A1 Radio News|A1radioonline.com|Ghana.
