Mintah Akandoh Says Government's Free Dialysis Programme Unsustainable: “Just To Win Votes”
- The Ranking Member on Parliament's Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, says the government's free dialysis programme is unsustainable
- He said the government would have been better subsidising the cost of dialysis instead of making it free for a short time
- He believes the government only introduced the programme to win votes in the upcoming elections
The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, says the government’s free dialysis treatment programme is unsustainable.
This comes on the back of the government, through the National Health Insurance Scheme, introducing a six-month free dialysis treatment for renal patients under age 18 and 60 and over.
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The National Health Insurance Authority and the government of Ghana are funding the treatment.
Mintah Akandoh believes the money used to provide the six-month free dialysis sessions could have been used to subsidise the cost of dialysis for much longer instead.
He said it behoves the government to conceive a sustainable mechanism to fund renal treatment for renal patients.
Mintah Akandoh says the initiative is political
Mintah Akandoh believes the programme is politically motivated, so it does not consider sustainability.
He said the initiative was probably only introduced now and for the stated period due to the upcoming 2024 general election.
He said the vice president and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has been silent on introducing the programme, proving its temporary nature.
He is convinced that the programme will be discontinued after the 2024 general elections, and patients will return to paying the hiked dialysis fee of GH¢491.
How the initiative works
During the six months, patients aged below 18 and above 60 will receive all eight free dialysis sessions per month.
The government says the cost of dialysis for this group of patients, considered the most vulnerable, is projected to be GH₵329,952 per month.
By December, the cumulative cost is projected to be approximately GH₵2.3 million.
Patients aged 18 to 59 from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), Efia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH), Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), and Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) will receive two dialysis sessions per month at GH₵982, that is GH₵491 per session.
Concerning Korle Bu, the government says because patients there already benefit from a philanthropic subsidy of GH₵380 per session, the government would only contribute GH₵491 per month to such patients.
Renal patients petition Parliament over dialysis cost hike
YEN.com.gh reported that the Renal Patients Association of Ghana has expressed grave concern about a sudden increment in the cost of dialysis treatment.
The patients say the price has now hit GH¢491 less than a year after it was hiked to GH¢380 after subsidies were cut.
The association's spokesperson described the situation as challenging for renal patients and called on the government to intervene.
Proofread by Berlinda Entsie, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
