The physician specialist and medical director of Nagel Memorial Adventist Hospital, Dr. Edward Donkoh, has reiterated calls on the government to subsidize the cost of dialysis treatment for people suffering from kidney diseases.
According to him, many patients have died due to failure to pay for dialysis treatment.
Speaking in a phone interview with Max Morning Dew on Monday, Dr. Donkoh said the current state demanded the government absorb part of the cost of dialysis treatment through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in order to ease patients’ suffering.
He said the failure of many Ghanaians to get tested for kidney diseases has led many to suffer the chronic ailment, thus having to pay Gh¢5000 within a month to be on dialysis.
Dr. Donkoh noted that there was pressure on the country’s dialysis machines as many patients diagnosed with the ailments were already in stage five, with some patients requiring transplants.
“Over 30 people are put on dialysis daily, and some hospitals are full. For Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, we are lucky to have five machines, yet it can’t curtail the situation, so we most times transfer patients to Cape Coast, Accra, and other regions,” he added.
Dr. Donkoh said that due to the cost of dialysis, some Ghanaians were using alternative medicines and expressed an urgent need for the government to subsidize the cost involved.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has said that the government is considering subsidizing the cost of dialysis treatment for people suffering from kidney diseases.
He said he has met with some parliamentarians and is currently soliciting their views on whether to put it on health insurance or if the government finds a subsidy to bring it down.
“We are probably even looking at health insurance nomenclature to see how best we can solve that,” the sector minister said.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
