A former Minister of Health and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nhyiaeso, Dr Richard Anane, has called for a bi-partisan discussion on the financing of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to save it from imminent collapse. He said it was officially known that the financing of the NHIS had been on a nosedive since 2010 and warned that if nothing was done about the situation, the scheme would collapse by 2013. Dr Anane made these suggestions when he took his turn in the ongoing debate on the President's State of the Nation Address presented to Parliament on February 16, 2012. "Madam Speaker, this serious issue which requires a bi-partisan intervention was not even mentioned in the President's address," he stated. The MP said the Minority was of the opinion that it would have been proper for the government to increase the NHIS premium by one per cent in order to raise some funds to support the operations of the scheme and wondered why the government had not considered that option. Dr Anane said it was unfortunate that the President failed to touch on the NHIS Capitation which was being piloted in the Ashanti Region and had generated a lot of acrimony. He explained that even though he was not against the capitation system, there was the need for the government to rethink its method of implementation in order to achieve the desired results within the period of about three years. When he took his turn in the debate, the Minister of Communications and MP for Tamale South, Mr Iddrisu Haruna, told the House that the President was candid in his delivery when he stated that the economy was full of progress. "Madam Speaker, the President never sought to tell Ghanaians that he had reached the destination of the Better Ghana Agenda". He said it was, however, a fact that in all sectors of the economy substantial gains had been made since the President took over in 2009. Mr Haruna stated that the econo¬my had witnessed consistent growth in annual GDP figures, explaining that while the GDP was 7.7 per cent in 2010, it increased to 13.4 per cent in 2011. He debunked the argument from the Minority that the economy witnessed high growth in 2011 as a result of the oil find, adding that "the oil economy cannot be divorced from the Ghanaian economy". Mr Haruna added that macro-economic indicators had been very good under President John Evans Atta Mills's administration and cited the unprecedented single-digit inflation figure that had been sustained for a long period. But responding to some of the points raised by Mr Iddrisu, NPP MP for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea, said it was unfortunate that the government was touting its achievement on inflation while prices of commodities and services kept on soaring. He wondered why a six-unit class¬room block awarded on contract in the Awutu Senya District in November 2009 for GHC7,812.10 was increased to GHC263,956.84 for a similar project that was awarded in May 2010 in the Asunafo North District.