Private Doctors To Revert To Cash And Carry In Two Weeks If�

Members of the Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners of Ghana have given the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) a two weeks ultimatum to pay their six months outstanding claims or they would turn down patients with NHIA cards. The president of the society, Dr Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, said logistics of the 300 private hospitals under the scheme could only last for a week and would, therefore, not risk continuing to pre-finance. He told a press conference in Kumasi on Sunday that much as it was against their wish to exacerbate the already precarious situation of patients following the nation-wide strike action by the Ghana Medical Association, it would have no choice to revert to the cash and carry regime if the NHIA failed to honour its part of the contract. The society said it has lost faith in government because of its apparent inconsistency in dealing with them. �Low tariffs for services and medicines paid by the NHIA may be acceptable to public sector facilities because the majority of their overheads are borne by the government. The running cost of private health facility keeps increasing and the low tariffs cannot sustain operations in the private sector,� Dr Odoi-Agyarko said. It urged the authority to fast track the review process of the tariff since the current rate did not reflect the current economic situation. In that regard, the society is advocating for a periodic six months upward review to meet the rising cost of operation. The press conference was the climax of the society�s four-day 37th AGM under the theme: �Ethics and Medico-Legal issues in Medical practice.� The AGM focused on a myriad of areas under their practice especially the patients� charter as well as their responsibility, emphasising that patients� information remained confidential and could not be divulged without their consent or a court order. It urged doctors to be aware of and be guided by professional ethics in their behaviours and practices.