MoH Paid ¢10M Insurance Cover For 10,000 Untraceable Health Workers
The auditor general’s audit of the government’s Covid expenditure from March 2020 to June 2022 has shown that the Ministry of Health paid an amount of GH¢10,309,919.94 insurance cover for untraceable health workers.
Per the report, the amount covered 10,000 Health Workers and Allied Health Professionals who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic without any Life Insurance Policy.
Contrary to National Insurance Commission Guidelines on Life Insurance Products, the insurance cover for the health workers in question did not have their details, the auditor general found.
“We observed that the Ministry paid GH¢10,309,919.94 as a premium for Special Life Insurance Cover for 10,000 Health Workers and Allied Health Professionals working on the COVID-19 pandemic without any Life Insurance Policy document detailing the beneficiaries, their location, next of kin in case of death, nature of the benefit and the term of the coverage.”
The insurers included Enterprise Life Assurance Co Ltd, SIC Life Co Ltd, Glico Life Insurance Co Ltd, Star Life Assurance Co Ltd, Hollard Life Assurance Co Ltd, Ghana Union Assurance Life Co Ltd, Mi Life Assurance Co Ltd, GN Life Assurance Co Ltd, Allianz Life Ghana Ltd and Ghana Life Insurance Company.
Why Blanket Coverage
According to the report, the Chief Director of the health service explained that insuring health workers during a pandemic was novel to the Ministry and even the Insurance Industry in Ghana.
Hence, they did not know which health workers to list and the ones to leave out, therefore, they paid the premium for a blanket coverage of 10,000 health workers, the report said.
Auditor’s Recommendation
“We recommended that the Chief Director should liaise with the Ghana Health Service to identify the health workers and allied health professionals to educate and assist the workers to complete the necessary insurance documents to enable them to apply for the benefits under the policy when the need arises.”
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
