NHIS Is Brainchild Of Catholic Church Not NPP … Says Anita De-Soso

The National Vice Chairperson of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anita De-Soso, says the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is not the brainchild of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and that the idea was conceived by the Catholic Church, and former President Jerry John Rawlings decided to pilot the concept in Dodowa and northern parts of Ghana.

She said as soon as the NPP came into power in 2000, they started working on means to implement the Scheme. The party executive said this while addressing the Ashanti Regional Women's Wing of NDC at a three-day workshop and orientation function in Kumasi themed: “Transforming the feminine front objective grassroots structure playing an active role in 2016.”

According to her, the NPP implemented a Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, which was only accessible to card bearers in a defined location, but the NDC has made it national. The forum is meant to strategise for the NDC to maintain its stay at the Flagstaff House.

De-soso explained that NDC has changed the face of the NHIS to the extent that it is now national and Ghanaians can access it everywhere. On the vibrancy of the scheme, she told the Ashanti Regional NDC Women's Wing that the NHIS has not collapsed, and that the government injected a whopping one billion cedis into its operations last year.

Anita De-soso revealed that the total enrolment of the NHIS has increased from 160,000 households in the NPP regime, to 178,000 under the Mahama-led administration, adding that the recent increment in NHIS subscribers is a sign of the government's effort at ensuring that the downtrodden had access to affordable healthcare in Ghana.

On the School Feeding Programme, she claimed that the NPP owed caterers four months, and these arrears were paid by the NDC when they came into power. ”NPP left school feeding with a total enrolment 414, 000, students, but, as of now, the school feeding is covering 1.3 million kids, and we (Government) look forward to expanding it further.”

She urged Ghanaians to vote for the government which respects the poor, needy and uneducated, and not a party and disrespectful government which is on fire, saying Ghanaians have no place apart from Ghana, and “we cannot afford to give Ghana to a party which is on fire.”

The NDC Vice Chairperson appealed to the Ghanaian clergy to be patient with the Presidency when issues crop up. “The best they can do is to come to us for explanations,” she said.

Hajia Siddiq, Ashanti Regional NDC Women's Organiser, pledged that the women would campaign vigorously for President Mahama ahead of the November 7 pools, stressing “we want to put the elephant (NPP) at bay.” She urged the women to forge ahead and campaign for President John Dramani Mahama.

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi