The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has called on the government to revamp the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a means of addressing current heightened health poverty.
According to CDD-Ghana, revamping NHIS will encourage more Ghanaians to use the scheme as a result of job losses and out of pocket health expenditure.
“The emphasis should be on driving the current Out-of-pocket spending down from 40% to below 20% while increasing the percentage of the population using the NHIS from the current 36.3% to close to 60%. If this doesn’t happen, health poverty is likely to affect a large percentage of the population Health Policy and Healthcare Delivery Perspective.”
In its post-COVID-19 analysis, the organization proposed that the government increases its expenditure on healthcare delivery by taking a “cue from Ghana’s lack of preparedness and low Global Health Security Index score of 35.5 and commit to increasing the percentage of GDP spent on health. It will be instructive if a strategic plan with timelines on how to meet the provisions of the Abuja Declaration is worked on and implemented.”
In the area of digitized healthcare delivery, it proposed an “introduction of innovative cost-effective measures in the provision and procurement of health care across the country. This will have to involve significant reliance on digital technology to improve health care access at the primary care level, especially in remote areas. This may require deemphasizing of the construction of more health facilities while promoting the enhancement of health professionals’ capabilities.”
Moreso, it called for an adjustment of “mental health provision at the primary care level” as the outbreak of COVID-19 has its related mental problems.
In a similar recommendation in the area of food economy, “policymakers should consider reestablishing a strategic stock of food and essential items within each region to improve the efficiency in the distribution and delivery of these resources.”
