ONE-TIME NHIS PREMIUM FEASIBLE (PAGE 19, APRIL 20, 2010)

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, says the government is still convinced that a one-time premium payment to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is feasible.
The government, he said, would, therefore, implement the policy before the end of its first four-year term.
Addressing the maiden graduation of the Community Health Nurses Training School at Tanoso near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region yesterday, the Vice-President said the government was also in the process of restructuring the scheme to make it beneficial to patients.
That was because the NHIS had been beset with fraud and corruption in the collection of claims from clients in the past.
The Vice-President said in pursuit of the “Better Ghana” Agenda, the government was committed to providing the needed infrastructure to ensure increased access to healthcare services, especially in the rural areas.
He said the nation had reached a critical stage where quality healthcare delivery could not be compromised.
The Vice-President said it was in that light that the government had put in place various measures to ensure that healthcare delivery in the country was improved.
To be able to successfully achieve that objective however, "I wish to call on all stakeholders in the health sector to play their roles effectively and efficiently”.
The Vice-President emphasised that the role of community health services, as primary health care delivery personnel, was a very important segment of the healthcare delivery system, saying, "As graduates of this institution, your duties would be very vital in the areas of preventive health care," he stated.
He noted that the rise in maternal mortality cases in the country was the result of unsupervised deliveries, which he said was a major challenge in the healthcare delivery system.
According to Mr Mahama, a clean environment was the bedrock of community health, stressing that dirty environment created the conditions necessary for the breeding of various insects which transmitted a lost of diseases.
Available statistic, he said, indicated that over 80 per cent of preventable diseases were contracted from unclean environment.
The Vice-President advised the graduates to render services with a smile, pointing out that the patient was not an irritant but he or she was the reason why they were nurses and that they should not take out their domestic stress on them to their workplaces.
Mr Mahama stated that as front-line personnel in the healthcare delivery system, the nurse was expected to demonstrate leadership qualities in his or her duties and to assist in the implementation of the healthcare segment of the "Better Ghana" agenda.
He gave the assurance that the new midwifery training school planned for girls in the Asunafo North Municipality would take off this year.
He donated a 33-seater Nissan bus to the school.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamakye-Marfo, said 81 cases of maternal death were rewarded in 2008, but the figure shot up in 2009 and explained that the high incidence of maternal mortality was as a result of the difficulty in mothers in labour accessing immediate medical attention.
In that connection, he disclosed that the Regional Health Directorate had signed a memorandum of understanding with some transport unions under which drivers were not to hesitate to pick women in labour to the nearest hospital before any payment was made.