The Minority in Parliament has voiced strong criticism against the National Health Insurance Authority’s (NHIA) plan to allocate GH₵245 million for the procurement of Ghana Cards for children aged six to 14.
The NHIA argues that providing these cards to children in this age bracket would streamline the process by eliminating the need for separate printing of National Health Insurance cards for them.
However, during a parliamentary session on Friday, March 22, former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu denounced the decision as irresponsible. He contended that the NHIA’s primary focus should be on settling claims rather than diverting funds towards Ghana Card procurement. Mr. Iddrisu questioned the rationale behind duplicating efforts and spending additional resources on data procurement when the state is already involved in acquiring Ghana Cards.
“We need more explanations from the National Identification Authority and the Health Insurance. I do not believe that the state’s resources are being utilized efficiently,” Mr. Iddrisu remarked.
The Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, called for a parliamentary audit into what he described as the NHIA’s substantial expenditures on ICT-related expenses. He expressed apprehension over the NHIA’s allocation of nearly one billion Ghana cedis towards various ICT-related projects, including the claims processing center, biometric ID cards authentication system, management information system, telecare service platform, and claims data capture.
Mr. Agbodza highlighted that despite repeated requests for an independent audit of the NHIS system, the authority has failed to comply. “Mr. Speaker, even the Ministry of Communication, how much money do they spend on ICT and other matters? Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time we have demanded that the NHIA conduct an independent audit of the system and report to Parliament.
“As it stands, they have neglected to carry out the audit and present it to Parliament, so we are calling for Parliament to initiate its own audit into this matter,” he declared.