The Minority in Parliament is demanding answers from the government on some GH¢2 billion allocated to support the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme.
According to the caucus, the government has released GH¢127 million out of GH¢2 billion allocated for the National Health Insurance Fund.
Addressing the media on Thursday, March 31, 2022, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the Ministers responsible must address the anomalies.
“The law of the National Health Insurance Act is clear that when you collect these monies, you are supposed to log it into the National Health Insurance Fund within 30 days after the collection.”
“And you are supposed to appear before Parliament every six months to account for the money within the year,” Mr. Akandoh added.
He said these concerns necessitated the appearance of the Finance Minister and Health Minister to answer to the concerns being raised.
“With these two reasons, we have asked the officials of the National Health Insurance Authority to go back and bring the minister responsible for health, the minister responsible for finance to explain why they have not lodged the GH¢2.056 billion into the National Health Insurance Fund.”
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) was established under the National Health Insurance Act 2003, Act 650, as a body corporate, with perpetual succession, an Official Seal, that may sue and be sued in its own name. As a body corporate, the Authority in the performance of its functions may acquire and hold movable and immovable property and may enter into a contract or any other transaction.
A new law, Act 852 replaced ACT 650 in October 2012 to consolidate the NHIS, remove administrative bottlenecks, introduce transparency, reduce opportunities for corruption and gaming of the system, and make for more effective governance of the schemes
