Stop registering your members on NHIS if it has collapsed – Mahama to NPP

President John Mahama has taken a jab at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for claiming that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has collapsed under his government.

According to him the NPP is registering its members onto the scheme though they claim it has collapsed.

“Recently the NPP said the NHIS has collapsed but if you claim NHIS has collapsed why is the NPP registering its supporters onto the scheme? If it has collapsed then what is the benefit of the card? Why are you paying for the NHIS cards for our people? It is has collapsed then stop registering your people. What is happening is that the NHIS has expanded tremendously,” Mahama said while addressing a mini-rally at Kade in the Eastern Region on Tuesday as part of his campaign tour of the region.

The flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo and his communication team have accused the NDC of deliberately collapsing the once vibrant social intervention programme which flourished under the NPP and had promised to revive the scheme if given the nod on December 7.

But President Mahama said the NHIS has rather boomed under his government.

He argued that the NHIS which started in 2005 covered only 9 million subscribers who accessed the card at the hospital by end of 2008.

“…in 2015 those who used the cards at the hospital were 29 million. When the NHIS was implemented, we were told that the amount being invested could sustain the scheme for 10 years. So from 2005 to 2015 we had to get money to inject into the system so as at 2015 the scheme has expanded that we now have 29 million visitations in 2015 alone. In 2008 the amount paid facilities who dispensed healthcare to NHIS subscribers was GHc 183 million, in 2015 the amount was paid was over GHc 1 billion. We need more money to invest into the scheme that is why in the NDC manifesto we stated that some of the oil revenue should be injected into the NHIS so that the NHIS would always be in the position to take care of subscribers,” he added.

Agenda 50/50
The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) had launched an audacious target of getting 50 percent of the votes in the Eastern Region for President Mahama in the upcoming elections.

President Mahama is expected to take opportunity of his campaign to commission some government projects and also explain to the people of the region why he should be given a second term in office.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin