The Deputy Rector of MountCrest University College Ghana, Dr Samuel Akortey Akor, has underscored the importance of participation in the effective delivery of healthcare in Ghana.

Reflecting on the primal ideals of the health insurance scheme, the former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, bemoaned what he calls its “centralisation” debasing the contributions of health seekers.

“We need to design the system in a way that the people are participating in the provision of healthcare.

“Initially, when we designed the National Health Insurance Scheme it was decentralised and the focus was for them to participate fully.

"Unfortunately, we have centralised the Health Insurance Scheme and taken that power of participation. So the people are now passive recipients of healthcare.

“We think it’s only financing, but we need the people’s involvement to tell us from time to time what they need from us. Where is the forum where they can articulate their views?” he quizzed.

Dr Akortey Akor was speaking at the opening ceremony of the primary health care financing course by the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

31 health personnel have been selected to participate in the Primary Health Care financing short course.

The course is spearheaded by the Health Employment pillar of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative led by Dr. Kofi Akohene Mensah.

The partners in the workshop include: KNUST School of Public Health, The DAAD-PAGEL (German Academic Exchange Service Partnership for the Health Sector in Developing Countries) Accelerating Capacity-Building in Health Systems Research and Management in Africa Project, and the German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)

The rest are The Department of Health Care Management at the Technische Universitat Berlin (TUB), Germany, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway, and the HTA Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, Ghana.