Mike Afflu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inter Class Associate Limited, a chartered accountancy firm and external auditors for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Eastern Region, has called on the government to waive value added tax (VAT) on certain materials needed by the scheme to operate. He said the imposition of VAT on these materials swelled up the cost of operation so much that the revenue base of the scheme was severely affected. He said materials such as computers and their accessories, stationery and other materials used in producing identity cards of members of the scheme, needed to be VAT-free since as much as ¢350 million was spent on just ID cards because of VAT on them. According to him, audit fees paid by the district schemes were also levied, adding a lot of financial burden on the scheme in the districts. Mr. Afflu explained that if the NHIS was partly funded by the VAT, then under that circumstance, it was a matter of "Robbing Peter to pay Peter", for if the two and a half per cent of VAT is meant for the NHIS, why should the same people who are being assisted, be asked to pay tax? At a general meeting, the Board Chairman of the East Akim Scheme, Asare Nyankumah praised workers of the scheme for their commitment and hard work. According to him, they had been working tirelessly for three years without job security and proper conditions of service and therefore proposed an acceptable package to compensate such hardworking workers Mr. Nyankumah however thanked the government for providing a car, motor bikes and computers to enhance the work of the scheme in the district. He announced that 51.4 per cent of the district's population had registered with the scheme, adding that the vigilance of the workers through vetting of claims saved the scheme ¢294,970,844. "The scheme paid service providers ¢7,319,434,484 in the year 2007," he said. For his part, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Emmanuel Victor Asihene was not happy about the inequality in the distribution of health personnel to the hospitals, stressing that some districts were being discriminated against with some having about eight doctors and others struggling to even get one doctor at post. According to the DCE, a big hospital like the Kyebi Government Hospital, that served a large number of people in the district, had only one doctor, explaining that if the scheme was to make any impact, more health personnel should be posted there and to the various district hospitals. SOURCE: DAILY GUIDE