Editorial (Thursday, 1st September 2022)
The treatment of four childhood cancers and the cost of hydroxyurea for managing sickle cell anemia are now covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has said.
Addressing stakeholders in Accra, he said the re-imbursement of the cost for the treatment of childhood cancers took effect from July 1, 2022, while plans were afoot to add treatment of other forms of cancers to the NHIS list of ailments.
This was made possible because of a collaboration between the Scheme and Roche, a pharmaceutical company.
The Ghana Health Service says about 1,200 children are diagnosed of childhood cancers annually in Ghana, with parents spending between US$1,000 and US$10,000 for treatment.
“We have started with four cancers amongst children for now, but we are determined to expand in due course. As we know, incremental improvement is always the way and exponential impact should not be compromised when it comes to healthcare,” Vice President Bawumia said.
“Our children’s present and future can only be secured if all the factors that threaten their existence and quality of life are eliminated. We are determined to make it happen and we should not relent.”
The Daily Searchlight believes that the financial implications of this policy with regard to the National Health Insurance Scheme ought to be made public so as to invite input from the generality of Ghanaians.
That said, we also believe that any initiative to bring relief to suffering cancer patients, particularly children, is something that should be heavily commended.
We hope, therefore, that this initiative is cost-effective, be able to bring great relief to the children who are suffering, and would not put undue financial cost of the NHIS.
(This article was first published in the column EDITORIAL of the Daily Searchlight of Thursday, 1st September, 2022. The Daily Searchlight appears on the newsstands of Ghana every working day and PDF versions are available for sale online twenty-four hours a day all day throughout the world on www.ghananewsstand.com).
