<<Print>>

Government has begun talks with the pharmaceutical industry and suppliers of the National Health Insurance Scheme over the debt owed them with the hope of raising bonds to clear these debts. 

The initiative which is being spearheaded by the Pharmacy Council is to help reduce the debt burden on members as a result of the insurance scheme.

The acting Managing Director, Moukhtar Soalihu, lamented the negative impact of the debt on their operations speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Medical and Pharmaceutical Intravenous Infusions.

Mr Moukhtar Soalihu explaining to shareholders disclosed that the Pharmaceutical Association of Ghana is following up on plans by the government to issue bonds to clear the debt.

“The pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana has actually engaged the government on how to address some of the funding challenges and a number of options have been looked into”, he said.

“One of the main options now is to probably issue a bond to use the bond raised to fix the challenge and the Association is pursuing this agenda because the issue of National Health insurance debt is affecting most of the firms in the country” he stressed.

The pharmaceutical manufacturer has been affected by the indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Scheme to many of the health facilities in the country.

Though government has been making efforts to clear the debt, some suppliers are yet to receive their full payment.

Board Chairman of the company, Isaac Osei, is confident that the move will help the company raise funds for its expansion work.

The board has approved some dividends payment for shareholders after ending the year with a 14.2 percent increase in revenue.