Health service delivery in the Western Region under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is under threat, as service charges have not been reviewed upwards since the inception of the scheme. The situation has affected the capacity of some of the hospitals in the region to give patients on admission three square meals daily. Additionally, the hospitals are not able to meet some recurrent expenditure because expenditure has increased without a corresponding increase in service charges. Doctors and health administrators who spoke to the Daily Graphic on the situation, therefore, called on the health authorities to increase the service charges or the insurance premium to give the hospitals more resources to provide better healthcare delivery. “The only way to save the situation and ensure good service for patients is to increase service charges or insurance premiums,” a health administrator told the Daily Graphic. The Western Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Linda Van-Otoo, acknowledged the problem and said proposals had been sent to the authorities to critically examine the situation and how it could be addressed. Other health workers who wanted to remain anonymous said the situation posed a serious threat to the health sector and appealed to the health authorities to as matter of urgency, work with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to find a solution. The inability of the hospitals to provide three square meals for patients on admission has compelled some families to shoulder the responsibility for feeding their loved ones on admission. Expatiating on the predicament of the hospitals, the administrators said, “The X-ray and other laboratory services nor feeding, have become very expensive, but the health insurance premium has remained unchanged, nor have service charges been reviewed upwards.” The situation, they said, had put pressure on the hospitals’ finances, while quality health care had been undermined, to some extent. They said by the agreement between hospitals and the NHlA, drug and none-drug items used on patients were supposed to be reviewed every year. “But the only area that has seen review is the drug, while service charges for laboratory and X-ray services have not been reviewed upwards in the past three years,” they said. “The prices of rice, foodstuffs, hospital disposables, gauze, plaster and other services have changed over the years. Today’s prices are not what prevailed on the market three years ago,” they said. Some of the hospital officials told the Daily Graphic that some patients who reported with certain problems under the health insurance scheme went to the extent of procuring the items to be used on them because they needed good service. The health workers commended the NHIS for the prompt payment of claims, but indicated that the expenditure of the hospitals far exceeded their income, a situation which was putting much pressure on the hospitals. They expressed the hope that the NHIA would speedily review the service charges to ensure that the hospitals continued to provide services for their clients. Source: Daily Graphic