The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Baba Jamal, has heaped praises on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which he describes as the biggest ever social Intervention introduced in the country. "You will agree with me that the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme is one of the biggest social interventions introduced by the government, and a very important intervention in healthcare financing in Ghana," he declared. Even though he praised the previous government for the introduction of the scheme, he was quick to mention that since the inception of the scheme, several challenges and unavoidable problems had confronted it, with the potential of collapsing the scheme beyond resurrection. He made the remarks at a review meeting for schemes in the region, which was attended by scheme managers, health practitioners and stakeholders, in Koforidua. According to him, the Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government made a commitment to the good people of Ghana to improve on the scheme after taking over the reins of government, and that they were in the process of finding a lasting solution to potential problems that would threaten the scheme. The Deputy Minister disclosed that many health providers under the scheme are owed many months of legitimate and illegitimate outstanding claims, with a real threat of crippling these facilities. To him, the government had put in place prudent measures to pay off all legitimate claims, and purge the system of illegitimate claims. The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister entreated all scheme managers to eschew all forms of corrupt practices, in order to sustain the scheme. Touching on the programme, the Eastern Regional Manager in charge of the scheme, Mr. Windham Emil Afram, said the Review Meeting was to look at performances, programme credibility, and strategies, in order to move the scheme forward in the right direction for the "Better Ghana Agenda". According to him, the National Health Insurance Authority had chalked some successes in various areas such as claims processing, prompt claims payments, and blocking of financial leakages, as well as the establishment of cordial relationships between clients and the office. Source: Ghanaian Times/Ghana