Some participants at the health forum
THE DEPUTY Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Public Health, Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, has emphasized that the country will not develop if it does not focus on the public health sector.
According to him, a high percentage of diseases relating to public health could be prevented if healthcare was made accessible to its people.
He also indicated that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) could not be sustained if Ghana failed to focus its attention on diseases that were preventable.
He noted that healthcare was a partnership, not the sole responsibility of health workers and consequently called on all stakeholders to join to assist in prioritizing public health services.
Dr. Tinkorang disclosed this at a regional health forum held in Sunyani to intensify education on Free Universal Access to Healthcare by the Brong Ahafo Regional Coalition of NGOs on Health.
He further reiterated the need to make healthcare accessible, affordable, acceptable and appropriate to the citizenry. He disclosed that 88 mothers lost their lives through maternal complications in Brong Ahafo in 2011, whilst a total of 107 mothers had so far died this year through the same means.
Brong Ahafo Regional Coordinator of the Coalition, Kwabena Afena-Sam, stated the purpose of the forum was to highlight the challenges regarding poor access to healthcare and to urge the electorate to demand universal access to healthcare ahead of Friday?s general election.
He mentioned that coverage of the NHIS was low (34%), which meant that the premium-based financing had not been successful in mobilizing the needed financial resources from the huge informal sector (80% of the population).
Mr. Afena-Sam said as a result of this, the scheme was in financial straits as the organization?s annual expenditure had consistently been above its income.
The coalition further stated that for Ghana to achieve the universal healthcare coverage and financial sustainability for the NHIS, the annual health insurance premiums must be scrapped to ensure universal access to healthcare free at the point of use, and to adopt tax-based financing to provide predictable and sustainable financing for the NHIS.
?The current model of the NHIS which involves members making contributory payments is utterly unfair,? Mr. Afena-Sam stressed.
He explained further that the major cost of providing healthcare services to members of the NHIS was funded with general tax revenue from the Value Added Tax (VAT) to which every Ghanaian contributed but was used to pay for the health care needs of mostly high income households who were able to enroll on the NHIS.
From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani
