The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) on Thursday said 59 legal and 108 implementation and operational issues have been identified in the operations of the Scheme.

In a presentation to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health in Accra on the theme, “Change We Must and Yes We Can”, a consultant, Dr Raymond Atuguba, said the research was conducted among stakeholders across the country.

He explained that the Act setting up the Scheme empowers districts to set up their own schemes, which makes them autonomous and thereby making directives from the NHIA clash with those from the boards of the district schemes.

He said some operational issues that have come up are the issuance of identity cards, and noted that though the card could be issued within three months, the Act and Legislative Instruments mandates the NHIA to do so within six months.

The meeting with the Parliamentarians was therefore to solicit their assistance and input into the draft document that seeks to review and amend the law that set up the scheme.

The Executive Secretary of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, said the revision of the law is a topical issue due to the increasing demand for quality health care and government want to ensure that the current provisions under the law are improved for the better.

“There have been achievements and challenges,” he said, and admitted also that the one-time payment has implications for strategy and structure. The revision of the law is to take account of all complications that would emerge,” he added.


Source: GNA