The majority in Parliament has dismissed concerns that plans to use money meant for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to build new health training facilities amounts to misappropriation.
The concerns were raised by Deputy Minority Spokesperson on Health, Dr. Robert Kuganab-Lem, who says there are other ventures that the money could be pumped in.
Dr. Robert Kuganab-Lem
“We want money to pay bills…there is a hospital in the Central Region that has not been paid for 15 months,” he alleged.
“How do you want this hospital to operate,” Dr. Kuganab-Lem quizzed.
He was also worried that there was no account for the monies collected and insisted that the money is given to the NHIS.
“We don’t know the monies collected…it must be given to the NHIS so that it operates. Now in this current formula, we have money that the NHIS is giving for the construction of a nursing school…”
His concerns were however dismissed by Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah, who says the venture is a fruitful one.
According to him, the venture will go a long way in disease prevention.
Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah
“One of the strategies of the NHIS should be helping to prevent diseases so that they don’t increase their expenditure,” he said.
Explaining his point, the Berekum East Member of Parliament said: “when your clients are sick all the time, you have to pay more but if you put in steps so they don’t fall sick at all then you have a breathing space”.
“So I think what the authority is doing is rather being smart so that they will not sit down for more illnesses to occur to incur more debts for them to pay,” he said.
NHIS Funds: We are preventing more people from falling sick; majority replies minority
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