No Capitation• Private Health Providers Insist
PRIVATE HEALTH providers in the Ashanti region insist the capitation policy currently being run in the region on pilot basis by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) must be scrapped .
At a meeting with newly-appointed Health Minister Alban Bagbin in Kumasi yesterday, various stakeholders reiterated earlier demands for the policy's withdrawal due to operational challenges saying they would not rescind their decision until this is done and their concerns addressed.
The minister was in the region to confer with private health providers over the issue and to learn their concerns first hand.
After several postponements of the new policy expected to cut cost to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the NHIA finally kicked off the regional trial on January 1.
But since its commencement, the capitation policy has been bedeviled by agitation from key stakeholders including private health providers and various pressure groups in the region.
Realizing the NHIA was unwilling to heed concerns about operational challenges posed by the policy, the private health providers announced their withdrawal from the program.
Since then several attempts by the authority to reach a compromise with the providers who make up nearly 70 percent of the region's health delivery system have failed.
Present at yesterday's meeting at the Miklin Hotel were representatives of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Ghana Pharmacy Council, Private Medical and Dental Council, Christian Health Association of Ghana and the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association.
Also present were Ministry of Health and NHIA officials led by Chief Executive Officer, Sylvester Mensah.
Stakeholder representatives said the capitation policy was gradually but surely collapsing the NHIS because it was simply impracticable for a health facility to treat a patient with the capitated amount of GH¢1.75p prescribed by the policy.
They explained that because health facilities incur massive costs in the discharge of their duties they could not operate efficiently on this allocation.
The health providers insisted that continuation of the policy will virtually collapse the scheme as health facilities would be unable to offer quality service to subscribers.
They said the policy was facing operational challenges because of the exclusion of their views and suggestions by the implementing authority coupled with the lack of education that characterized its implementation.
Stakeholders announced they would need at least six months to carry out comprehensive work about how much would be needed to make the policy effective.
They suggested a reserve fund be created with proceeds from oil and mining companies to help the scheme operate successfully without necessarily implementing capitation with the view of cutting cost.
In response, Mr. Bagbin thanked stakeholders for their cooperation and promised to forward their concerns to President Mills.