Delays In NHIS Reimbursement Hampering Work

The Yendi Health Service has held its Annual Performance Review (2013) meeting with a call for improvement in the reimbursement of National Health Insurance claims.

In attendance were representatives of the Regional Directorate of Health Services, traditional rulers, members of the Municipal Health Committee, Heads of Decentralized Departments, health workers, and partners in development.

Madam Denisia Agong, Yendi Municipal Director of Health Services, said the delay in reimbursement of NHIS claims, paid up to July 2013, was one of the challenges facing health facilities in the area.

She said the meeting was to review the achievements and challenges of the previous year and strategise to find solutions.

She said the sector had seen an increase in some reproductive and child health indicators such as skilled delivery, family planning, antenatal registrants, post- natal care and immunization antigens.

Madam Agong said no guinea worm case was reported the entire year.

On the part of human resource, she said the area received three staff nurses, four community health nurses, one field technician, a pharmacist, a biomedical scientist and 10 enrolled nurses to augment the efforts of the existing staff.

Madam Agong said unfortunately they lost one midwifery student and two enrolled nurses.

She said the district could boast of only seven operational CHPS zones and appealed to the assembly and development partners to build more CHPS compounds at least eight kilometers from the nearest health facility.

Dr Sampson Aning Abankwah, Medical Superintendent of Yendi Municipal Hospital, expressed concern about the shortage of Anti-Snake Vaccines (ASV) in health facilities in the Municipality.

He said due to the shortage of the vaccine victims of snake bite went to Sankasi in Togo to purchase them without proper storage which made the vaccines ineffective when used.

He, therefore, appealed to the Government to send more of the ASVs to the rural health facilities where a lot of people, particularly farmers, got bitten by snakes.

Participants mentioned the lack of a surgeon and a dentist at the hospital as well as shortage of Anti-Rabies Vaccines.