NHIS service providers told to be honest
Mr Isaac Afari, Kenyasi District Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), on Tuesday called on service providers to refrain from inflating claims, to sustain the scheme.
He said the NHIS had detected that service providers inflated their monthly claims to dupe it (NHIS), adding that about 10 per cent of claims made by some service providers were always inflated.
Mr Afari made the call at a sensitization and advocacy seminar to improve on the NHIS, in Sunyani.
It was organized by Mission of Hope Society (MIHOSO), in collaboration with Universal Access to Health Care Campaign Coalition, non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The event was attended by 120 people from Kotri, Abesim, Berekum, Kenyasi, Bechem, Techiman, Odumase, Adentia and Kotokrom communities in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Mr Afari explained that the sustainability of the NHIS largely depended on service providers and clients, and appealed to the NHIS to provide prompt and more efficient services.
He said there was the need to solve technical problems and lapses associated with the NHIS, for the scheme to achieve its objectives.
Mr Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of MIHOSO, noted that since the introduction of the NHIS, its challenges had always been blamed on the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) because of its mandate and oversight responsibility in ensuring the success of the scheme.
He said the success and sustainability of the scheme hinged not only on the NHIA, but also on important role of health service providers in fulfilling their part of the contract signed with the Authority.
Mr Benarkuu noted that poor service delivery by healthcare providers under the NHIS was an act that defeated the purpose of the scheme.
He stressed the need for the NHIA to work more closely with civil society and support them to monitor healthcare providers.
Mr Benarkuu called on the Authority to strengthen its clinical audit units, and to roll out the biometric registration and capitation to reduce fraud in the system.
Source: GNA