Health Insurance grounded in parts of Ghana

The health of many Ghanaians is in danger in parts of the country as the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme have come to a halt.

Some offices of the insurance authority have been closed by workers as they begin an indefinite strike.

They accuse managers of dragging their feet in negotiations for better service conditions.

An accountant at the Ashanti regional office of the NHIA, Bawa Mohammed, told Joy News the offices of the Adansi district NHIS have been closed.

He said in the Adansi East the main office was locked with no sign of workers on duty. The situation was no different in the Adansi South.

According to him, there was no health insurance subscriber at the office.

However in the Eastern region, Asempa FM’s Maxwell Kudekor reported that a lot of subscribers were left stranded.

The subscribers, he stated had emergency cases and needed to renew their cards urgently to seek medical treatment.

But the health insurance workers are in no mood to return anytime soon.

The General Secretary of the Health Insurance Workers Union, Kwabena Bobie told Joy News’ Evans Mensah they have been cheated for far too long and will not return until their demands have been met.

According to him, they started the negotiations with the management of the NHIA in 2010 but nothing concrete has been achieved, two years on.

He said they gave the management a February 29, 2012 ultimatum for the management to resolve their grievances, failure which they will embark on a strike. That deadline has elapsed and nothing concrete has been achieved.

“Our members are fed up. We have been cheated for far too long,” he lamented, adding, “Why this discrimination? Our members are tired and so want to stay at home.”

He dared the management of the NHIA to go to court if they consider their strike as illegal.

Strike illegal

But the Deputy Director in charge of Corporate Affairs Ametor Quarme told Joy News the action by the workers is illegal but said it has not gotten to the stage where legal action will be taken against the striking workers.

He explained however that the management has been negotiating with the workers, on one hand, and the board on another, all in a desperate attempt to resolve the grievances of the workers.

He said that the negotiation has not yet gotten to a "stalemate" and wondered why the workers will abandon negotiations and declare a strike.

He dismissed allegations by the workers that the board and management are dragging their feet on the issue, insisting that the demands by the workers impinge on issues about money and needed more time to resolve.

He was hopeful a decision will be arrived at very soon. 


myjoyonline.com