Ministry Suspends Health Officials

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has suspended officials whose names appeared in the recommendations of the Special Audit Report prepared by the Audit Service on the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC). This move by the ministry is intended to facilitate the work of another committee set up by the MoH to further undertake a critical study of the report and make recommendations on it to the sector Minister, Major Courage Quashigah (retd). The committee, which is headed by the Director of Internal Audit of the MoH, has been tasked by the minister to advise him on the way forward on the implementation of the recommendations of the report and it is expected to submit its report by the end of June this year. Major Quashigah, who said this in an answer to a question by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase; Alhaji Muntaka M. Mubarak, did not, however, disclose the number of persons involved and their names. The MP had asked the minister about measures that had been taken so far by his ministry to implement the recommendations of the Special Audit Report on the NHIC between January and September 2005. Answering another query by Alhaji Mubarak on when the committee was set up, the minister said it was set up in early 2006. The MP for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga, after catching the eye of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr, Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes, drew attention to an apparent contradiction in the minister's statement by asking Major Quashigah whether the committee he had set up was higher than the Special Audit Report which had been carried out by the Auditor General. In his reply, the minister said there were no discrepancies or contradictions in his statement, since the Special Audit Committee had also been set up by the same ministry. In another development, the MP for Offinso South, Dr Owusu Achaw Duah, asked the minister whether there had been any problems with the implementation of the acts establishing the Teaching Hospitals and the Ghana Health Service and, if any, the measures that had been taken by the ministry to solve those problems. Responding, Major Quashigah explained that there had been no problems in connection with the subject. "Currently, my ministry is in the process of consulting with key stakeholders on the operations of the teaching hospitals and the agencies," he said. According to him, as part of the review, the ministry was considering placing all service providers under a proposed Health Service Bill. "We expect to conclude the consultations and forward the bills to Cabinet by the end of the year,” the minister added.