The Metropolitan District Chief Executive of Ejisu Juabeng is calling for the immediate suspension of the health sector pilot capitation scheme in the Ashanti Region. Yamoah Ponkoh said the pilot scheme has since its introduction been a recipe for chaos in the region with patients unfortunately at the receiving end. He said the piloting should not be introduced in his district until thorough discussions are held between stakeholders. The capitation scheme is a new pre-financing system being introduced by the National Heath Insurance to Authority. Per the system, health providers would be allotted a specific number of clients as well as an estimated cost in providing for the health needs of those clients. The system is now being piloted in the Ashanti Region but not without confusion. Private health providers insist they will not have anything to do with the pilot scheme. The Ashanti regional chairman of the society of private medical and dental practitioners Dr. Harry Tawiah said the proposal will affect health care for clients and hurt their individual businesses. But the authority is warning such providers risk losing the contracts if they boycott it. Chief Executive of the NHIA, Sylvester Mensah warned the providers after a meeting between the two groups Thursday morning failed to resolve disagreement over the implementation of the pilot capitation scheme. But Yamoah Ponkoh, who before his appointment as the MCE was the Ashanti Regional Manager of the NHIA said the pilot scheme in its current state and form is only a recipe for disaster. “I am calling for the immediate suspension of the pilot scheme,” he said, adding that stakeholders must go back to the negotiation table for an amicable resolution of the problem. He said with the health providers and the NHIA ‘at war’ the victims could only be the patients who through no fault of theirs have been made to endure this new policy. He admitted the capitation may well be in the interest of the country but said it has to be thought through with all stakeholders. Nhyira FM’s Kwabena Apratwum who visited some hospitals in Ejisu in the Ashanti Region reported of widespread chaos.