By Vanessa Adjei
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority, NHIA, Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby addressing media in Accra has debunked claims that the Authority was ‘sacked’ when they met with the Select Committee on Health concerning its budget allocation formula.
“When the budget is read, we have to come and do a budget around what the minister has allocated to us and that is what we call the allocation formula. And it is usually done before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health,” she said….
Clarifying issues regarding how its allocation of the 2022 Budget was approved by Parliament, Dr. Dsane-Selby said when they met with the Committee, the members asked for further explanation which was why they had to go back and produce some documents.
“It is unfortunate some of you (media) reported that they sacked us. We have a very good relation with the Committee, nobody sacked us, they just asked us to come back with further documentation,” she clarified”.
The NHIA CEO said they returned with the documents requested which were forwarded to the floor of Parliament and subsequently approved.
“We went to the Committee of the whole. They asked their questions and they have approved our allocation formula. Now that that is done, we can get on to achieve what Ghanaians want us to achieve for the rest of the year,” she added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dsane-Selby noted that GHS I.9bn was released to the authority last year but in the budget they allocated an estimated amount of GHS 2.6bn between the NHIS Levy and Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions.
“When monies are released to us, it is like arrears going forward,”, according to Dr. Dsane-Selby.
