The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has engaged key healthcare stakeholders in Tamale to promote collaboration and secure support for the implementation of its 2026–2029 Medium-Term Strategic Plan (MTSP).
The meeting, held on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at the Global Dream Hotel in Fuo-Tamale, brought together representatives of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) and private healthcare service providers.
The engagement forms part of the Authority’s efforts to deepen stakeholder participation in its strategic priorities, which include expanding membership, improving healthcare quality, strengthening financial protection and building public trust.
The Acting Director of Research, Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation (RPME), Mr Suleyman Abass, welcomed participants on behalf of the Deputy Chief Officer in charge of Operations, Dr Kwesi Senanu Djokoto.
Mr Abass urged stakeholders to take ownership of the Strategic Plan and work closely with the Authority to improve access to quality and equitable healthcare while sustaining the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a pro-poor policy.
He noted that the dissemination of previous strategic plans had largely focused on NHIA staff following approval by the Board of Directors and Executive Management.
However, under the leadership of Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, the Authority has recognised stakeholder engagement as essential to effective implementation.
He explained that healthcare service providers had therefore been included in the current discussions because of their critical role in achieving the Plan’s objectives.
The Deputy Director of RPME, Mr Collins Akuamoah, presented the 2026–2029 MTSP, outlining its objectives and providing an overview of the Authority’s performance under the previous strategic plan.
Mr Akuamoah reported that the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan achieved an overall performance score of 71.3 per cent.
Key milestones included the uncapping of the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), the digitalisation of claims processing and active NHIS membership exceeding 20 million.
Despite these gains, he identified illegal payments at healthcare facilities as a persistent challenge facing the scheme.
He said the Authority was committed to tackling the practice through the establishment of an Anti-Fraud and Illegal Payments Directorate. Efforts were also ongoing to secure prosecutorial powers to address providers who persistently engage in such practices.
The Regional Operations Manager, Hajia Fawzia Shingu Alhassan, speaking on behalf of the Northern Regional Director, described the meeting as timely as the Authority prepared to implement the new Strategic Plan in collaboration with its partners.
She said effective cooperation would be necessary to improve the management of the scheme and expand access to quality healthcare for Ghanaians.
Hajia Alhassan urged participants to pay close attention to the discussions and engage their respective districts to ensure broad participation in implementing the Plan over the next three years.
The overarching goal of the MTSP is to achieve sustainable, equitable and high-quality universal health insurance coverage that provides effective financial protection for all residents of Ghana by 2029.
The goal prompted contributions from NHIA staff and healthcare service providers, who discussed their roles in achieving the Authority’s strategic objectives.
Ms Rosemary Mensah, Senior Manager for Monitoring and Evaluation, presented the Annual Plan of Work template and outlined Executive Management’s expectations for regional and district offices.
She explained that the offices would be required to use the template to develop programmes and activities aligned with the Strategic Plan. These activities must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).
Regional and district offices will also be expected to conduct mid-year and end-of-year reviews to assess progress, identify implementation gaps and support the achievement of the Authority’s universal health coverage target by 2029.
