President John Mahama has promised to boost the operational capacity of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by spending a percentage of Ghana’s petroleum revenue.

He said the current source of funding for the scheme, which has been described as the biggest social policy intervention in Ghana, is not sustainable.

The NHIS depends on a percentage from both the Value Added Tax (VAT) and salary of workers in the country.

Highlighting the 2016 manifesto of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the State Banquet Hall in Accra Tuesday, Mr Mahama said, “We need to rework the sustainability of the NHIS.”

President Mahama with functionaries of the NDC, Veep Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and First Lady Lordina Mahama

Section of Ghanaians including chiefs and President Mahama's political opponents have blamed him for collapsing the NHIS which was initiated by the erstwhile Kufuor-led administration.

Related Article: NHIS exists in name; not in reality – Bawku Naba laments

Bawku Chief, Garu Naba Garu said in August that the scheme only "exists only in name." He said patients have been unable to access critical medications which were available during the Kufuor-era.

From [L - R] NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia and Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur

Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has also lamented the collapse of the scheme.

Addressing supporters of the NPP in Dormaa West Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region in July, Nana Akufo-Addo said, “It is painful watching the NDC government collapse the scheme.”

Related Article: I will revive collapsing NHIS – Akuffo-Addo

He promised to “revive the NHIS to ensure that the poor in society have access to healthcare without the financial burden.”

However, Presdient Mahama said the scheme has not “collapsed, it has [rather] gone beyond its period.”

He said government has put measures in place to ramp-up the subscription of the scheme by both Ghanaians and foreign nationals.

Related Article: NHIS would have collapsed in 2010; we extended its life – Mahama

Spending a percentage of the petroleum revenue to fund the NHIS, he said will “prolong the life of the scheme [combined] with the introduction of more computerisation to make it more efficient.”

Mental Health:

In the area of mental health, President Mahama has promised to build two more mental health hospitals in both the Ashanti and Northern Regions to complement the existing ones.

He explained the one to be built in the Ashanti Region would serve the middle belt areas whereas the one in the Northern Region would be for areas in the Northern belt.

He also announced that starting 2017 government "shall prioritise mental health care and [adhere to] strict implementation of the Mental Health Act 2012."

Mr Mahama said the Accra Psychiatric Hospital would be relocated to Pantang and this would be built as a first class mental facility.