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For the past two years, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been running at a deficit, putting its sustainability in jeopardy. Alban Bagbin, Minister of Health, who made this known at the fourth civil Society Organization�s annual health forum in Accra said, �since 2010, the NHIS has ran deficits�, adding that �the stability of the scheme is of great concern to government.� The forum, themed �Promoting Stronger Civil Society And Public Partnership Towards Achieving Improved Health Outcomes�, was organized by the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations in health. It is to provide a platform for lobbying government and other partners to demonstrate extra commitment in providing health services for all, especially the poor and marginalized. Mr Bagbin said the National Health Insurance Authority was currently considering strategies to increase revenue and also contain the cost of the scheme. In line with this, the minister disclosed, premiums collected by the schemes across the country would be deposited in a special consolidated premium account established to collect all revenues. �The National Health Insurance Authority expects that by establishing the account, premiums collected would be properly accounted for� while comprehensive reports on such accounts would be generated, he stated. Mr Bagbin was sure the creation of the special account would help monitor and control the scheme as well as ensure that premium income is efficiently used. Mr Bagbin, who agreed that the health sector was bedeviled with challenges such as rising maternal mortality, inadequate infrastructure, poor human resource mix, poor health client satisfaction and challenging human resources cost among others, noted that government was undertaking a number of programmes as part of measures to improve the health sector. A policy brief advocating universal healthcare in Ghana, which was made available at the forum, noted that even though every Ghanaian paid for the NHIS through VAT, majority remained excluded from its benefits. The NHIS is 70 percent funded from tax but only 34 percent of Ghanaians are benefiting room the scheme as of this year. Esther Oduraa Ofei-Aboagye, director of the Institute of Local Government, speaking at the forum stated that though the NHIS was intended to cushion the vulnerable and provide social protection, �contraceptives are not included in the scheme�. She urged civil society organizations to track the commitments government had made to the sector such as the promise to increase funding of the health sector to at least 15 percent of the national budget by 2015, as well as ensuring that 95 percent of pregnant women are reached with comprehensive preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Dennia Gayle, deputy representative of UNFDPA, said Ghana was still far from reaching the global target of 75 percent reduction in maternal deaths, adding that �too many women are still dying needlessly during pregnancy and childbirth�.