Accra, Dec.14, GNA–Dr Maxwell Akwasi Antwi, the Country Director of PharmAccess Foundation, has called for enhanced collaboration between health providers in the private and public sectors to help achieve universal health coverage (UHC).
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Three-“Good Health and Well-being” aims to ensure that everyone, everywhere can access quality health services without suffering financial hardship. It requires removing barriers to health and improving affordability, accessibility and quality of health systems.
In a media interaction at the sidelines of a stakeholder seminar in Accra, Dr Antwi underscored the need for closer collaboration amongst health service providers from both public and private sectors to speed up the process of achieving the UHC by 2030.
The seminar was organised by Nationwide Medical Insurance in collaboration with the PharmAccess Group.
It was held on the theme, “Achieving Universal Health Coverage-The Role and Contribution of Private Sector Health Insurance”.
The Country Director for PharmAccess Foundation was of the belief that although the public sector had a lot of mileage in health insurance policies, its growth could be complemented by the efforts of the private health insurers.
“There are lessons from both public and private sectors that can advance universal health coverage, hence it is necessary for both wings to build bridges in terms of regulation, advocacy, and other relevant aspects,” he said.
“The word is collaboration; and it was one of the crosscutting themes that resonated throughout the discussions,” Dr Antwi noted.
Dr Antwi observed that each sector was doing great within its own space and cited the National Health Insurance Authority, which had 52 per cent of Ghanaians being active.
“So, it really tells you how big that momentum is and how we’re growing very well and the great work the Ministry of Health, the NHIA and all other partners have put into it,” he stated.
He further stated that the PharmAccess Group was one of the private entities poised to partner the government to advance the cause of UHC.
The concerns raised by Dr Antwi were also highlighted by some other stakeholders participating in the seminar.
Some notable industry players who took turns to express their views on the theme for the seminar included Mr Ronald Oppong, the industry lead for PHIAG, Dr Gifty Sunkwa-Mills, Operations Manager for PharmAccess Foundation and Dr Isaac Morrison, board member of the National Health Insurance Authority.
Others were Mr Daniel Margo, Senior Vice President (Africa) of Zipline Africa and Dr Dennis Addo, the CEO of Claron Health International.
The panel discussions were moderated by Mr Oswald Essuah-Mensah, the Acting Director of Corporate Affairs, NHIA.
Participants at the event diagnosed some of the challenges bedeviling the country’s health industry and proposed some solutions to mitigate them.
Meanwhile, Ms Nancy Naa Ampah, the CEO of Nationwide Medical Insurance, expressed the need for both private and public sector health players to pool their strength and resources together towards boosting healthcare delivery.
“Private health insurance could be the oil to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, and so we need to be more innovative,” she added.
She said the private insurance sector should be more innovative in its healthcare financing approach.
GNA