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The paramount chiefs of the Aflao and the Akpini traditional areas in the Volta Region, Togbui Amenya Fiti and Togbe Dagadu, have endorsed the introduction of the Capitation payment system and its implementation in the region by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), describing it as timely.

According to the chiefs, the roll-out of the capitation system called for comprehensive education for the people to appreciate it as relevant in the management of the payment system of the scheme. They stated that it would not only help in correcting some of the imbalances in the management of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), but also promote the stability of the scheme.

The chiefs, who were speaking at separate durbars at Aflao and Kpando, as part of the educational activities carried out by the NHIA in the region, urged their subjects to support the capitation. They described it as essential in building a healthy NHIS that would be capable of meeting the health challenges of the people.

Togbui Amenya Fiti, therefore, asked the people to actively participate in programmes and activities of the scheme, especially, on issues concerning the implementation of capitation under the health insurance scheme.  According to him, issues concerning health ought to be taken more seriously, because the people could contribute their quota to national development only when they are healthy.

The Paramount Chief of Akpini, Togbe Dagadu, on the other hand, commended the NHIA in the region for the educational programme embarked upon to inform the people about the benefits thereof in rolling out capitation, and asked them to, at all times, embrace government programmes and policies aimed at enhancing their living standards.

The Volta Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NHIA, Mr. Charles Agbesi, disclosed that the NHIA had recently paid four months arrears to service providers in the region to enable them continue offering services to valid card bearers and thanked the service providers for their cooperation and support over the years. He assured them that all monies owed service providers would be paid to enable them to continue their work.

Mr. Agbesi said the NHIA had started the training of enrolment officers in the region as part of the implementation process of the capitation payment system, noting that sensitisation activities would continue through community durbars, dawn broadcasting, and radio discussions to educate people of the region so as to ensure the successful implementation of the capitation.

He noted that the Volta, Upper-East and West regions were benefitting from the first phase of the nationwide scale up, after the pilot project in the Ashanti Region in 2012. According to him, the roll-out process, which started from February 2014, involved stakeholder engagements in the region with service providers, staff from district health directorates, and other major players to educate the people on the capitation.

Capitation is a provider payment method, under which an advance of a pre-determined fixed rate is paid to health service providers to provide a defined set of services for each NHIS subscriber enrolled with the preferred primary provider for a fixed period of time. This payment method was introduced in 2012 as a pilot scheme, and currently is being scaled up across the country.