NPP Should Stop Being Polemic�Nana Addo Was Emphatic That NHIS Has Collapsed - Pratt

Managing Editor of the �Insight� newspaper, Kwesi Pratt, says he is saddened at attempts by the New Patriotic Party to engage in polemics after the party's Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo asserted that the cash and carry system is back because the National Health Insurance Scheme has collapsed. Mr Pratt contends the NPP flagbearer was clearly not abreast with facts on the ground when he made those pronouncements on the alleged collapse of the NHIS. Taking his turn at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Presidential Debate Evening Encounter on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, the NPP leader recounted how a Voltarian told him of the shortcomings of the NHIS. �Esinam told me in Vakpo, in the Volta Region, that her problem was the collapsing National Health Insurance Scheme. She said, �NHIS egblen!� Nana Addo said at the IEA Encounter. According to Nana Addo, �the people of this country have to be healthy, if we are to make any meaningful progress in nation-building. The last NPP government introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme to remove the constant fear of falling ill under the inhumane Cash & Carry system. It has been painful to watch the NDC government try its best to collapse the NHIS, whilst struggling to implement their unrealistic one-time premium promise. Today, the fear of getting sick is back. The NHIS has been degraded and Cash & Carry is back. Fellow citizens, we will revive and restore confidence in the NHIS. Our goal is to achieve universal coverage of the NHIS for all Ghanaians. The NPP will spend more on public-health education and primary healthcare.�