Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Finance Minister has said government has disbursed GHȼ5.4 billion to support LEAP, School Feeding programme, Capitation Grant and National Health Insurance Scheme since January, 2024 to reduce the burden on the vulnerable in our country.
He added that GHȼ1.5 billion was used to support 1,488,575 students under the Free SHS programme.
During his presentation of the Mid-Year Budget Review on Tuesday, July 23, Dr. Amin Adam stated that “We have disbursed 5.4 billion Ghana Cedis to support LEAP, School Feeding programme, Capitation Grant and NHIS since January, 2024 to reduce the burden on the vulnerable in our country.
We have spent about 1.5 billion Ghana Cedis to support 1,488,575 students under the Free SHS programme between January and June this year.”
“The Ghana School Feeding Programme commenced in 2006/2007 with 1,950 beneficiaries. Over the years, there has been considerable growth of the Programme from 1.6 million beneficiaries in 2016 to over 3.8 million beneficiaries in 2023 and is currently in the region of 4 million beneficiaries as of June 2024. In one year, we have added over 200,000 children.
Speaker, an amount of over GH¢662 million was paid to caterers as at June 2024. The Programme continues to provide employment for over 34,000 caterers and cooks, especially women to generate income to enable them to take care of their families. The Programme has also created a ready market for local farmers thereby boosting the local economy.
Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty
Mr. Speaker, to protect the real value of the benefits for our most vulnerable households, Government has in the last two years increased the LEAP grant by 200% from GH¢64.00 in 2022 to GH¢256.00 in 2024; meaning that we have doubled the grant every year for the last two years. This measure ensures that the programme’s outcomes are effectively achieved. Under the enhanced LEAP, the number of beneficiary households has increased from 212,917 in 2016 to 324,073 in 2024.
Health Service Delivery
Speaker, as part of Government’s digitalisation agenda, the e-Health project is progressing steadily with concentration on health centres and polyclinics, this year. As of June 2024, a total of 49 polyclinics and 144 health centres have been connected, enhancing access to patient data at the point of care, claims management, and realtime bio-surveillance data. This has significantly strengthened the country’s health delivery system.
National Health Insurance Scheme
- Speaker, as part of Government’s efforts to increase access to health service, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) reviewed the benefit package to include childhood cancers, prostate cancer, mental health care, annual health check, dialysis services and care for sickle cell patients.
- Speaker, by the end of 2024, the NHIS intends to increase enrolment of active members from 14.5 million representing 44.3 percent coverage, to 20.8 million representing 63.5 percent of the total population. NHIS will also intensify sensitisation on the electronic enrolment platforms by introducing cashless payments, integration with GIFMIS Platform, eReceipts, and ePayments,” he stated.
