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22.06.2009 Health

Adaklu NHIS boss fired

By Daily Guide
Sylvester Mensah, NHIABossSylvester Mensah, NHIABoss
22.06.2009 LISTEN

THE VOLTA Regional Minister's call on critics of recent dismissal of employees from various departments to rest their criticisms, as they were yet to witness more of such dismissals, seemed to be having serious manifestations by the day.  

The latest to suffer the dismissal casualty after scores of staff of NADMO, NYEP, the School Feeding Programme and the NFED, is the Adaklu-Anyigbe District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Manager, Evans Anyadi, who has been directed by the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah, to step aside with immediate effect.

 He is accordingly required to, as a matter of urgency, hand over all properties belonging to the scheme in his possession.   

The directive, according to the NHIS acting boss, has become necessary to allow for effective and independent investigations to determining the veracity of acts of arbitrary use of authority and financial impropriety found to have been committed by Mr. Anyadi whilst in office.   

Mr. Anyadi was reported to have, among other things, used his influence as the scheme manager to purchase a vehicle last year for his personal use, after allegedly authorizing the issuance of a blank cheque for GH¢20,000 from his accountant, under the pretext of settling claims incurred by their clients to a sister scheme.

This was at a time when all such schemes had been provided with vehicles for official use.

Already, the NHIA boss has ordered a 3-member committee made up of the Volta Regional Minister, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, and an official from the NHIA, to be constituted to investigate the complaints against the Adaklu-Anyigbe NHIS boss.

According to the directive, the Regional Scheme Manager would assume responsibility of that district, pending inquiries into the case.   

Addressing pressmen and workers of the Ho Municipal Health Insurance Scheme last Friday in Ho, where he gave the directive after a tour of some of the schemes in the region, Mr. Mensah hinted that a letter of suspension would be served on the Mr. Anyadi immediately to avoid delay.

He was however quick to add that his outfit would not relent to call him back to post, should investigations prove him inculpable of the offence.   

He indicated that his outfit was appalled upon the discovery of Mr. Anyadi's act and would do all it could to ensure that the issues are dealt with expeditiously to ensure justice, warning that the Authority would not tolerate a situation where individuals arrogate powers to themselves and end up misapplying resources in pursuit of their selfish interest at the expense of the health of the people.   

He revealed that his team had uncovered a host of unfortunate developments, including staff and operational deficiencies during the tour, of which the processing of claims was the most pressing, stating that some individuals among the health providers were inflating claims, and thereby subjecting the scheme unnecessary cost.   

He said the Authority will soon facilitate the introduction of efficient management system to improve the transparency of the entire claim regime, stressing that problem associated with ICT section of their operations would also be keenly dealt with.   

Mr. Mensah revealed that strategic meetings would be held with the Regional Minister, Joseph Amenorwode, the various MDCEs as well as, heads of health service provider, which would be followed by a strategic stakeholder's seminar in Accra to chart a new path for addressing the problems confronting the scheme.      

The NHIA acting CEO however allayed fears of the staff when he dispelled rumours that the current staff would be laid off due to the change government.   

 He made it clear that the NHIS was a public establishment whose process of hiring and firing must conform to laid-down procedures, but added that lay off might only become necessary when a staff was found to be incompetent or had not to be employed through an approved channel.   

“In all these, we need the support of everybody, including the media to help educate the people to become aware of the rights and responsibilities under the scheme,” Mr. Mensah entreated.

He assured that even cases where there would be the need for such lay offs, the laid-down structures would be exhausted, while appealing to entire staff corporate with the scheme by volunteering information to help identify and root out deficient ones.   

Prosper Kofi Pi-Bansah, Municipal Scheme Manager, complained of inadequate staff and the failure of health service providers to adhere to guidelines for the submission of claims.

He was equally unhappy with the continuous prescription of drugs outside the medicine list by some health providers and the failure of some health facilities to improve their stock of essential drugs although they were regularly paid.   

The tour of the Acting NHIA CEO, DAILY GUIDE reliably learnt, was among others things, necessitated by a publication in its last Friday's edition captioned: “Ho NHIS In Turmoil” and it was expected to afford him the opportunity to assess first hand information about the problems of the scheme.   

Meanwhile, when contacted, Mr. Anyadi expressed shock at the decision, and pledge to make himself available to the committee when the need arose.

He was however tight-lipped on the reason why he was shocked and was neither ready to say whether the allegations against him were true or not.

From Edem Adesi, Ho

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