The Ghana Medical Trust (Mahama Cares) provides an appropriate framework for joint investment in health facilities, equipment and specialist training to enhance health service delivery, the Deputy Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Senanu Kwesi Djokoto, has said.
He has, therefore, urged private clinics, laboratories, pharmacies and insurers to explore the platform to expand the delivery capacity in the broader national interest.
Dr Djokoto was speaking at the just-ended 5th Annual General Conference of the Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana (PHFAoG) in Ho.
The conference was attended by over 200 members of the association from more than 100 private health facilities in the country.
The theme was: Unlocking Opportunities – Leveraging Government’s Private Sector Development Policy to Boost Ghana’s Private Health Sector.
He said the NHIA had institutionalised the appropriate stakeholder engagement to involve the private sector’s vigorous participation in decisions in benefit package reviews, pricing and operational policies.
He commended facilities which had embraced cashless, transparent and patient-focused service delivery, saying that would help to eradicate illegal charges that undermined the integrity of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Dr Djokoto said nearly 30 per cent of the NHIS-accredited facilities belonged to the private sector, adding that their role in expanding access, especially in peri-urban and underserved communities, could not be overstated.
In that regard, Dr Djokoto said the NHIA was finalising several transformative initiatives to strengthen its engagement with the private health facilities.
Earlier, the President of the PHFAoG, Dr Kwame Buabeng-Frimpong, affirmed that the association would not condone sub-standard practice by any private health facility.
Further, he said, facilities operating without valid licenses would suffer swift and ruthless consequences.