By Clement Akoloh | Parliamentary Correspondent
ACCRA, Ghana –
Parliament’s Committee on Economy and Development has urged the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance to urgently find dedicated funding for the National Ambulance Service, as it quizzed health officials on NHIS enrollment, school registration, and health data on Friday.
The Committee also raised concerns over low NHIS coverage, lack of mental health data, and delays in service delivery at public hospitals.
“Speak To Minister Of Finance” – Committee On Ambulance Funding
The issue of ambulance financing dominated part of the session after the National Ambulance Service CEO earlier told the Committee the Service has no dedicated funding.
The Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Eric Afful indicated that his committee is ready to assist the Service to make their case to government for finding.
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“We will help you speak to the minister in charge of this ministry, Minister of health and bring on board the minister of Finance to look for the funds for you to run the ambulance.”
The Chairman stressed that without dedicated funding, ambulance response will continue to suffer. “Without that the response from ambulance will not be done well,” he said.
The Chairman had earlier flagged the issue, noting government has invested heavily in ambulances but the Service still lacks sustainable financing. The Committee said it will take up the matter.
NHIS Membership At 18.5M, School Registration Drive Ongoing
On NHIS, the Deputy Minister for Health, Hon. Dr. Grace Ayensu told the Committee that current membership stands at 18.5 million out of an estimated 34.5 million public.
“Membership. I think you are around eighteen point five million. As compared to thirty-four point five million. I’m talking about the entire public,” the Deputy Minister stated.
To close the gap, the NHIA CEO told MPs the Authority is “moving to the basic schools to go and register” students.
“We are moving to the basic schools. To go and register.” he said.
He explained the approach involves setting up “available displays closer to that school and then we do the registration.”
“That’s how we go about it. Then the school feeding. We capture them under the exemption and all schools feeding,” he added.
MPs asked how the program is going, with one member saying “You can go sensitize them. But it’s confusing.”
Mental Health Data Gap Flagged For 2025
The NDPC told the Committee that while an indicator on “proportion of public hospitals that have functional mental health units” was fully achieved in 2023, there is still no data on actual cases.
“Quick one on the mental health. Indicator… it was fully achieved in twenty twenty-three as it is. As we finalize the work on the results framework… we would get an indicator that we would probably measure number of cases recorded. How many are fully dealt with,” the NDPC official said.
The Committee urged the Ministry to include patient-volume metrics in the 2025 framework so performance can be properly tracked.
Other Issues Raised
- Service Delays: MPs complained constituents wait “so many hours” at hospitals with no one attending to them, calling for OPD response time to be measured.
- Data Systems: Ministry confirmed rollout of Health Information Exchange is ongoing to centralize patient records.
- Structure: Committee member told Ministry “You structure your system. So please check on that.”
The Chair closed by thanking the Ministry for appearing and said findings will inform 2025 planning.
Source: parliamentnews360.com
