Mr Kasimu Abudulai, the National Health Insurance Authority's (NHIA) Acting Upper East Regional Director, believes the ongoing war in Bawku has impacted the Authority's performance in 2022. He claimed it resulted in a 47% drop in membership in the area. This, without a doubt, will have an impact on our attempts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) throughout the Region," he added. Mr Abudulai, speaking at the Authority's 2022 annual performance review meeting in Bolgatanga, urged conflict players to smoke the peace pipe in order for the area to benefit from essential development.

The meeting, themed "The role of digitization in modern healthcare delivery, introducing MyNHIS App," brought together officials from the Region's Municipal and District offices to examine their performance in the previous year and brainstorm ways to improve their activities. Despite operational and administrative problems during the fiscal year under review, the Acting Director stated that the NHIA had made great strides in meeting its objectives. "On membership, the Region reached 94.6 percent of its membership target of 988,442. "This represents 70.45 percent of the Regional population of 1,327,251 and compares favorably to the current national coverage of 54.5 percent," Mr Abudulai remarked.
He stated that the Authority registered 94,186 indigents, including Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) recipients and school feeding students, compared to a target of 119,270. Mr Abudulai stated that during the fiscal year under review, the NHIA implemented a number of critical policies and programs to improve efficiency in its operations for the benefit of clients. On the NHIA App, the Acting Director noted that on December 5, 2022, Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamadu Bawumia unveiled the 'MyNHIS App,' a convenient digital platform that allows Ghanaians in and outside the nation to enrol for the Scheme.



The program also allows existing Ghana Cards members to renew their membership without visiting the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) offices. "The application provides operational efficiencies as well as enhances members' experience," he added. Mr Abudulai went on to say that the application has decreased operational strain at district offices, lowered the Authority's cost of Information Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, and improved the membership renewal and registration experience, among other things.

"We would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to use this digital platform in conjunction with the existing Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) system *929# to avoid the hassle and bustle of visiting the District offices for the same services," he said.
Mr Abudulai stated that the Authority formed 'Co-payment Committees' at the national, regional, and district levels to combat the threat of illegitimate charges levied by health providers on clients. "These Committees will provide Executive Management with relevant information on the scope of the illegal practice in facilities across the country, as well as advice on the appropriate sanction regime for facilities that are found to be practicing the illegal charges," he said.


Akufo-Addo: NHIS will pay GH1.014 billion in claims in 2022

According to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) paid a total claim of GH1.014 billion to health service providers as of December 31, 2022. He explained that this was due to the scheme's better claims management methods, which included a focus on e-claims and paperless technologies at its Claims Processing Centres. In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) made in Accra on Wednesday, he stated that by 2022, electronic claims processing would account for approximately 70% (70%) of all submissions.
"We must be encouraged by the improvements being made to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to facilitate access." The scheme is currently one of the better-digitalized institutions, and I hope they receive the necessary public backing," he said. The President commended the NHIA for creating a self-enrolment mobile application (My NHIS App) that allowed Ghana Card holders to self-enroll in the scheme, since the program permitted registration and renewal for oneself and others by linking NHIS cards to Ghana cards.

"By 2022, the data of over 5 million members will be linked to their Ghana card, allowing them to access healthcare using the card," he stated. He stated that his administration used drones to deliver critical medicine, vaccines, and blood to people in remote areas of the country, and that "today, Ghana has the world's largest medical drone delivery service with six Zipline Distribution Centres in Omenako, Mpanya, Vobsi, Sefwi Wiawso, Kete Krachi, and Anum." The President stated that Zipline has delivered around 14.8 million (14,809,463) units of life-saving medicals, vaccinations, and blood supplies to Ghanaian health facilities by the end of 2022 using national-scale drone delivery services. He stated that pediatric immunizations topped the list, with 8.3 million doses delivered, followed by 2.05 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.


 Upper East NHIA Director bemoans improper NHIS charges

Mr Kasimu Abudulai, Upper East Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has lamented the growing number of reports of unauthorized charges on patients at regional healthcare institutions. According to him, several members of the public in the region who are participants of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) have complained about being charged for services covered by the Scheme. The Regional Director expressed concern over the reports and stated that the Authority would address the issue to guarantee that clients benefited fully from it in order to improve access to healthcare services.

"One issue that we are going to pay special attention to in 2023 is the issue of illegal charges at the level of the facilities," Mr Abudulai said in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, adding, "they call it co-payment, it is not right, it is illegal co-payment." "It is getting rampant, it is happening in our region, unfortunately we are one of the poorest regions in the country, and unfortunately it is not even happening more at the lower levels like the CHPS compounds, it is rather happening more at the district hospitals and the regional hospital," Mr Abdulai said.
"In Ghana, our NHIS is not a co-payment system; we finance everything that the Scheme covers," he explained. "When we talk about co-payment, it is where it is officially agreed and signed that if you go to the hospital, you will pay a certain percentage of the bill for a service rendered to you while the Scheme covers the other percentage." Mr Abudulai stated that in other nations where a co-payment system was used, the higher level one gained, the higher percentage one was likely to pay, a system that Ghana did not allow. Co-payment Committees have been established at various levels, including national, regional, and district, with rules to assist eliminate the occurrence.
He stated that the committees would assist in identifying facilities involved in illegal charges and will work with them to remedy the issue in order to relieve vulnerable individuals of undue burdens. The Regional Director stated that the committee had already engaged the administration of Zebilla Hospital, who were imposing a sanitation fee of GH5.00 on clients who visited the institution, including NHIS consumers, and that they had committed to discontinue this practice. "We have some issues with the Bolgatanga regional hospital that have yet to be resolved because they are doing some top ups on NHIS clients and they are giving the Authority reasons for doing so," he added. "The matter is being handled by the national committee for resolution."

Source: GNA