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Reimbursement of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) service providers in the Upper West Region increased substantially to a percentage of 175 as compared to 2016.

Payment to health facilities in the Region in 2016 is about GH¢8 million but this shot up to about GH¢22 million in 2017 representing an increment of 175 per cent.

Mr Abass Suleymana, the Upper West Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) disclosed this during the 2017 Regional Health Performance Review Meeting in Wa.

He said NHIS was committed to helping facilities in the Region and the country at large to deliver quality health services to the people for improved health.

Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, the Upper West Regional Director of Ghana Health Services, said a new package has been put in place by the NHIS to help end perennial and destructive delay in the reimbursement of service providers.

The new package, he said, would be launched next month, adding: “I cannot wait to see the nightmare of health service managers come to an end in the coming months”.

The Director said the package was expected to among other things see to the improvement of community care delivery by health personnel at the community level.

“We shall see our Community Health Officers (CHOs) being active again with the associated quality home visit,” he said.

Dr Nuertey also said the Region would see the activation and full implementation of the community performance-based financing (cPBF) in Nandom and Lawra Districts this year.

Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, Acting Upper West Regional Minister in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar, the Regional Coordinating Director said it is the vision of government to see to it that the right to health for all Ghanaians was guaranteed through an established health sector with sustainable ability to deliver affordable, equitable and easily accessible healthcare.

To realize this vision, he said, the government intends to expand health programmes, scale up disease prevention strategies and improve access to curative and emergency services through vigorous human resource and health infrastructure development as well as strengthening the NHIS.

The 2017 Regional Health Performance Review was on the theme: “Achieving optimal data quality for enhancing planning, decision making and implementation of health intervention in the Upper West Region”.