The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana (COPG) and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana (PMAG) have withdrawn credit supplies to regional medical stores and the health facilities across the country that are not in good financial standing with it.
This according to the Chamber is targeted at clients who have failed to honour their debts since December 2019.
Speaking to Citi News, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chamber of Pharmacy, Anthony Ameka said the situation affected the operations of its members.
“Some time ago, we said we were not going to provide drugs on credit to any institution. The Ministry of Health came in and based on that, we have agreed to give some form of a credit to some selected health facilities like those owing the chamber for like six months. We are told the NHIA has been able to pay up until December.”
“So any institutions that are owing us, we will not be able to give credit to such institution again. The most culprits among all the institutions are the regional medical stores. This has led to the loss of jobs As a result, we were not able to pay for imports or manufactured sum of the drug,” he added.
This is not the first time the Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers Association of Ghana and the Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana have called on the government to ensure that monies owed their members by NHIA-accredited health facilities are paid immediately.
The two associations warned the withdrawal of services from all National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) funded health facilities effective July 1, 2020, if the call is ignored.
An earlier joint statement signed by the Chairman of Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana, Harrison K. Abutiate, decried the failure of NHIA funded health facilities, regional medical stores and providers who are party to the framework contract to pay for pharmaceuticals products supplied to them for more than 12 calendar months
The associations also stated that for transparency in repayment, the Minister of Health should ensure that payments made by the National Health Insurance Authority to all Health Insurance Service Providers are published on a real-time basis.
