A lecturer at the Kumasi-campus of the University of Education, Winneba, Mr. Aaron Kumah has insisted former President John Dramani Mahama’s pledge to implement a free primary healthcare for all Ghanaians can never done, cautioning him to quit talking about it.
Speaking on Pure FM, Mr Kumah stressed that John Mahama’s administration had health service personnel complaining every time in the country because they couldn’t use the premium and other VAT components to take care of primary health.
He quizzed how the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer would fund the free primary healthcare which would take care of over 30 million Ghanaians since he has been critiquing the Akufo Addo government for the cost involved in the free shs which covers over 1.2 million students.
“It is under the last four years of the NDC government that health service providers really complained in this country. Every single week, you will hear of the health service providers complain, if it’s not the pharmaceutical association, then it’s the mission hospitals, this continued till the end of his tenure amidst taking premium and NHIS benefits. You couldn’t use the premium and other VAT components to take care of primary health care then and you expect us to believe you now that you are going to make it free.”
Mr Kumah further cautioned the former president to quit promising free primary healthcare if not he’ll personally campaign against him that he wants to collapse the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“Even with health insurance benefits, you couldn’t manage the health sector well and now you expect us to hand over our health service to you to make primary health care free… I beg him, he should take that part out of his utterances and intentions… I beg him, he shouldn’t mention free primary health care ever again. They should come out to tell Ghanaians that they didn’t understand the primary health care well and so they have taken it out of their manifesto and they will come up with a new policy.
“He could have said something like completing the health structures that he commenced and has been abandoned by the NPP administration but on primary health care, he can never convince us Ghanaians that he will make it free… If he doesn’t stop trumpeting the free primary health care agenda, I’m from now going to campaign that President Mahama is coming to collapse the health insurance scheme so we shouldn’t vote for him. He should stop talking [free] primary health care. This is a serious matter. It can’t happen. He can never do it. Ghanaians should not listen to him,” he affirmed.
Source: GhanaFeed.com