NHIA building
Parliament’s Committee on Health has sent away officials of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) over the decision of the Ministry of Finance to reduce allocation to the Authority.
The NHIA officials had appeared before the Committee with a formula for allocation for 2022.
During the meeting, it emerged that the government has released less than 10 percent of over 2 billion cedis due to the Authority.
Officials of the Authority disclosed that they were directed by the Ministry of Finance to cut its allocation which has been approved by Parliament.
Addressing the Media in Parliament on Friday, the Ranking Member on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said Parliament cannot make laws for any Ministry to change it.
“By their own records the Government of Ghana has collected 2.056 billion Ghana cedis in the name of National Health Insurance in the year 2021.
However, the government has released “127 million Ghana cedis less than 10% of the amount collected in the year 2021. Again when we considered the 2022 budget of which an Appropriation Act has been passed we approved an amount of about 3.3 billion Ghana cedis.
“Now, when you look at their formula on page 25 they are formulating it around 2.6 billion while the budget has approved 3.3 billion Ghana cedis. Clearly, there is some disparity,” the Ranking Member stated.
On these bases, Mr. Akandoh stated that the NHIA officials were asked to go back and come to Parliament with the Ministries of Finance and Health to explain why they do things differently from what the law says.