Consortium of CSOs petitions government for equitable health systems

By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA

Kumasi, March 12, GNA - A consortium of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), campaigning for improved universal access to quality healthcare in the country, have called on government to increase spending on access and quality health care services in deprived and rural communities.

In a petition presented to the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to be forwarded to the government, the CSOs asked the government to act quickly for a stronger and more equitable health systems to achieve the universal health coverage.

The CSOs were made up of Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) and Rights and Responsibilities Initiatives Ghana (RRIG).

The petition copies of which were directed to the Cabinet, the Ministries of Health and Finance, the Ghana Health Service and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), was presented as part of activities to mark this year’s International Women’s Day celebration, which was under the theme “I am generation equality; realizing women’s rights”.

Madam Aba Oppong, Executive Director, of RRIG, who highlighted on some of the issues embedded in the petition, called on Cabinet to ensure that revenue from the national insurance levy was separated from the consolidated fund and placed in an NHIA fund pool.

The petition appealed to the Cabinet to prohibit the practice that enabled and encouraged members of the legislative arm of government to receive statutory fund such as the Member of Parliament’s NHIS common fund.

It urged the Ministry of Health to ensure that a minimum of 50 per cent of all total allocations to the health sector was spent on expenditure categories of capital expenditure and goods and services, as well as developing a primary health care policy to strengthen primary health care processes and systems.

Again, all health infrastructure projects including community-based health planning and services (CHPS) facilities being built by previous governments were completed.

The petition further called for transparency with regards to the allocation, disbursement and utilization of annual budget funding amount (ABFA) funds earmarked for health projects at the district and community levels for citizens to track and monitor projects.

Madam Elizabeth Agyemang, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, who received the petition on behalf of the government pledged her support for an improved and equitable health systems to achieve the universal health coverage by all citizens in the Ashanti Region and Ghana as a whole.

GNA

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