The NHIA executives making the donation
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has presented a cheque of GHC 250,000 to the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.
The donation made during the Minister of Information press conference on COVID-19 is to support the government to meet the welfare needs of the vulnerable and also to combat the spread and adverse impact of the corona virus on Ghana and its citizens.
NHIA made the donation of the said amount from the NHIS Corporate Social Responsibility Budget aimed at assisting government to fully implement its Covid-19 eradication strategy.
A team led by the Board Chairman of NHIA Prof. Adu Gyamfi, Chief Executive of the NHIA Dr. Lydia Dsane- Selby and Director General of the Ghana Health Service presented a cheque of GHC 250,000 to the Ministry of Information on behalf of NHIS.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, received the cheque on behalf of the Covid-19 National Trust fund and thanked the NHIA for their immense contribution.
Speaking to the media after the donation, Dr. Lydia Dsane- Selby said, “ Each year we have a
budget for Corporate Social Responsibility and in normal circumstances, if we have had full Universal Health coverage (UHC), the Covid-19 may have been paid through NHIS with people submitting claims. Unfortunately we are not there yet. In Ghana only about 45 percent of our people are active members of the National Health Insurance Scheme. If Covid-19 had been run through the NHIS, some people would have been left behind, that you cannot do in a pandemic situation so the best thing to do is to use some of our Corporate Social Responsibility to donate to the covid fund. “
She added that “if we had full coverage we could have quickly done a package of cost and said everybody should submit their bills and it will be paid from the fund.”
Dr. Selby also encouraged people to register onto the Health Insurance scheme in order to curtail future pandemics.
“What we need to do is to persuade people to know that health insurance membership is mandatory, once it is mandatory and everybody is captured on the scheme, whatever hits the country in terms of health can quickly be done through the health insurance.
“I appeal to Ghanaians, countries that do not have health insurance we see what happens to them so let us really look at it again and be sure that everybody has that package because that way it will be easier to run prevention for public health trough the health insurance.”
The Covid-19 National Trust Fund is a public trust fund established and inaugurated on the 29th of March, 2020 by the President
H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to receive voluntary public Ghana.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri