Out of 275 Members of Parliament(MP), only 100 of them have so far visited the Parliamentary Clinic for frequent medical screening or review, Dr.Mark Assibey-Yeboah,[ MP for New Juaben South has disclosed.
According to Dr. Assibey-Yeboah, Parliament made it available to MPs to go for full health screening but most of them have not been keen to take advantage of the system.
He made this disclosure when he reacted to a statement made by Dr. Robert Baba Kuganab-Lem, deputy ranking member on health committee, on universal health coverage, a constitutional imperative.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is defined by the World Health Organisation as “ensuring that all people have access to needed promotive, preventive,curative and rehabilitative health services, while also ensuring that people do not suffer financial hardship when paying for these services”.
Dr. Kuganab-Lem also added that, it is important for Ghana to view the attainment of universal health coverage as a priority and a major goal for reformation in the health sector.
“It is the right of every Ghanaian to have access to quality health services without financial hindrances whether rich or poor, young or old, in the rural or urban”.
In achieving an inclusive and sustainable development ,the ability of a country to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being for all is critical as indicated in the Sustainable Development Goal three(3), he maintained.
On the way forward to get the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) to work, he argued that the country must depoliticize the implementation of the health insurance policy.
“We must also forget about asking workers to pay more when they do not know what they are paying for” he stated.
