The Ministry of Health (MoH) is to roll out new health insurance policy for non- residents who travel into the country from July 1 this year.
Dubbed 'The Visitors Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS)', the policy, which operationalises the Section 2(b) of the National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852), will focus on non-resident foreigners visiting the country for less than six months at the initial implementation stage before being up scaled in the future.
The National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852) mandates the establishment of a National Health Insurance Scheme to ensure the attainment of universal health insurance coverage in relation to all persons resident in the country. However, the section 2(b) stipulates that persons not resident in the country but who are on a visit to the country are to be provided access to healthcare services covered by the Scheme.
Briefing the media as part of its engagement ahead of the implementation of the policy, the Vice Chairman of the technical working group for the implementation of the policy said it was in line with the National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852), which mandated the provision of quality and accessible healthcare for both residents and non-residents in Ghana under a national health insurance scheme.
He explained that the VNHIS should have been rolled out alongside the NHIS, however, due to logistical constraints and other difficulties it had to wait until the country was ready.
Dr Morrison explained that the policy would comprise a six tier based on the duration of stay in the country.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He said the initial implementation phase would focus on foreigners with visas with all the necessary arrangements put in place for those who would require visas on arrival.
On his part, the Coordinator of the policy implementation, Alhaji Dr Inua Yusif, said citizens of ECOWAS member states would be excluded from the initial implementation stages, however, measures would be put in place to ensure that they are captured subsequently.
Dr Yusif explained that a National Non-Resident Visitors Health Insurance Technology Platform (NNRVHITP) had been established to enable non-resident visitors to remotely log into a digital platform and apply accordingly in the comfort of their respective countries without challenges, thereby improving user experience.
He said the scheme would be the main vehicle for the delivery of robust healthcare services to non-residents who would be travelling into the country.
Dr Yusif said the policy for the implementation had been developed in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and other partners
