President of the Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana, Samuel Boakye Donkor, has hinted that all health facilities will soon start charging fully for their services.
According to him, the service providers would soon start operating a “cash and carry” system because the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has not increased its payment to them even though prices of goods and services have increased tremendously.
In a Neat FM interview monitored, Boakye Donkor added that the government is hugely indebted to the service providers in addition to the failure to increase its charges.
“We are on our way to cash and carry. Not only private, the whole country. You shouldn’t be surprised that if you go to Korle Bu, you will pay more, you go to 37 (Military Hospital) you will pay money, go everywhere in the country you will pay money because the system that we have in the country does not allow us to operate free as you all want.
“Are we magicians to provide the service for free … how can we offer our services for free? It is not realistic for me to buy a drug at GH¢ 10, and the government will say that it will pay me GH¢3 so that the GH¢ 7 will be a debt.
“… the least arrears are facilities owed from July 2021, some facilities have arrears from March 2021, others February 2021, and they are even some that are owed since 2020 and 2019,” he said in Twi.
The president added that “… we will all stop it (NHIS) because the debts we have incurred have become too much. The debt is very high. We owe our workers salaries, the Ghana Revenue Authority, SSNIT and so on. You can’t really understand what is going on, the prices of drugs keep increasing, but the government has not increased the amount they give us for drugs. The Chamber of Pharmacy has even indicated that prices will be increased by 15 per cent.”
