Dr Nana Ayew Afriye
The New Patriotic Party Minority Caucus in Parliament has called for sustainable financing for the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, otherwise known as ‘Mahama Cares’ to fund the Trust Fund.
The Minority proposed the Covid-19 levy as a viable financing option to support the Trust Fund, instead of the government allocating 20 per cent of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to it.
It said the government’s decision to take 20 per cent from the NHIF would weaken the National Health Insurance Scheme since the Trust Fund would be competing with the scheme for financial resources.
Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament made the call in an engagement with the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra on Wednesday.
Dr Nana Afriye, also the Member of Parliament for Effiduase/Asokore, said even though the National Democratic Congress (NDC) before the 2024 general elections pledged to scrap the law establishing the Covid-19 levy, the NDC, after coming into government, found it useful to earmark the Covid-19 levy towards the Trust Fund.
The Minority Caucus urged the government to apologise to Ghanaians and go ahead to channel the COVID-19 levy towards financing the Trust Fund.
Dr Nana Afriye observed that the Ghana Medical Trust Fund seemed to be an outsourced function of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), noting, “If that is what the Trust Fund meant to do, then there must be clarity for Ghanaians to understand where to seek help with the NHIA and where to seek help with the Trust Fund”.
The lawmaker also suggested that the government should complete some of the Agenda 111 Hospital Projects and use them as specialist hospitals where sufferers of non-communicable diseases including cancer, diabetes, stroke, asthma and kidney disease could seek treatment.