Quality of Healthcare Under the National Health Insurance Scheme; Evidence from Patients at the Atua Government Hospital

Abstract

In Ghana, almost everyone recognized the fact that the payment of cash at the point of health service delivery popularly known as “cash and carry” posed a strong barrier to healthcare access and quality of healthcare for the majority of Ghanaians.(MOH 2003) This resulted in delays in seeking healthcare, non-compliance and delivery of poor quality service. To address this problem of financial barrier to healthcare access and quality of healthcare, the Government of Ghana in 2001 initiated the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a humane approach to financing healthcare and subsequent provision of quality healthcare to the population. However, patients often complained about the quality of services received at the health facilities especially under the NHIS. This research investigated the perspective of clients on the quality of healthcare service provided under the NHIS at the Atua Government Hospital (AGH) in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal (LMKM) in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The conclusions of the study included the following. Customer care was fair, using waiting time to see the doctor as a basis of prompt service received at the OPD. Hospital Staff were generally courteous to patients and there was no major difference in the level of service delivery rendered to NHIS and non-NHIS patients. However, the level of promptness in service delivery during emergencies was not good and must be improved. Also relevant information such as diagnosis and time to pick up laboratory results were not effectively communicated to patients.