Health sector records progress amid COVID-19 pandemic

Ghana’s health system witnessed remarkable progress in service delivery in the last two years despite the negative impact of COVID-19, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Minister for Health, has said.

That, he said, was evident in the total number of Outpatient Department (OPD) attendance, which increased from 13,919,900 in 2020 to 15,943,451 in 2021 across health facilities in the country.

The Minister said this when he took his turn at a press briefing in Accra.
He said the total number of antenatal registrants increased from 478,038 in 2020 to 496,377 in 2021.

Similarly, birth deliveries in health facilities increased from 369,635 to 403,948 within the same period.

Mr. Agyeman-Manu said the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) retained a total membership of 25,358,957 as of December 2021, with an annual active membership of 16,759,158.

“There were 34 million visits by 8.4 million members, out of 16.7 million active members. About 50 percent of active members used their card during the year, and the average visits for those who use their card is four visits a year,” he said.

The Minister said as of 31st December 2021, claims of GHS 1.04 billion had been paid to service providers.

“If you take into consideration the normal lead time for payments of three months, we will be owing our clients four months in arrears, this is a significant improvement from the 12 months arrears we inherited in 2017,” he noted.

Mr. Agyeman-Manu said the NHIA in 2021 paid GHS 529.43 million to public health service providers, GHS 288.04 million to private service providers, GHS 202.56 million to health service providers in mission hospitals, and GHC 15.76 million to those in Quasi-Public health facilities.

He said the Authority had expanded its packages to include Herceptin for breast cancer treatment.

“Plans are advanced for four Childhood cancers; Retinoblastoma, Burkitt’s lymphoma, Wilm’s Tumour, Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and hydroxyurea for sickle cell treatment to be included in NHIS the package,” he added.
The Minister said the NHIA was planning to review its tariffs by the second quarter of the year and add family planning to the NHIS benefits package.