"Go Look For The Money And Pay HISPAG Now" - NDC Man Tells NHIA

Former Member of Parliament for Ekumfi in the Central region has called on the National Health Insurance Authority to expedite action to defray its debt to the Health Insurance Service Providers. In the view of Hon. George Kuntu Blankson, issues that have to do with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) not be politicized and that is the reason for which government and the NHIA must �find the money to pay� service providers. ��this is a serious matter that does not have to be politicized. This is a national issue and the money belongs to all Ghanaians so I think NHIA must go and look for the money and pay� he said on NEAT FM . The former law maker made this appeal during a discussion of a publication by the Finder newspaper on Tuesday, 11th November, 2014 which had the caption, �Cash and carry in full force; service providers owed Ghc79m�. According to the paper, between January and now, government is indebted to members of the Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG) to the tune of GHC 79,065,630. As a result of the indebtedness, service providers could also not pay pharmaceutical companies that supply them drugs. Consequently, the Ghana Chamber of Pharmacy has suspended the supply of medicines to hospitals on credit basis from August 1, 2014. But Hon. Kuntu Blankson is of the conviction these happenings as far as the finances of the NHIS are concerned are unfortunate and can lead to a total collapse of the scheme. ��NHIS must treat this issue as a matter of urgency in order to save the scheme and also save lives� he maintained.