By The Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Aboagye Da-Costa, has announced that the organization will commence its planned support for dialysis treatment on June 1.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, May 15, Dr. Da-Costa explained that the support would be implemented for the next six months.
This initiative comes after Parliament’s approval of GH₵2 million to assist patients requiring dialysis across the country.
According to statistics, nearly 1,300 Ghanaians are undergoing dialysis, with a renal patient needing about 12 sessions per month. With the cost of each dialysis session increasing from GH₵380 to GHS491, a patient would require nearly GHS6,000 per month for the full session.
Dr. Da-Costa mentioned that the funds allocation was determined by a committee comprising key stakeholders, including the CEOs and medical directors of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.
He mentioned that the committee was chaired by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Nsiah Asare, with himself and the spokesperson for dialysis patients as members.
“Based on the money that we had, we knew that we could support two sessions at full cost. For Korle Bu, there is a philanthropy that supports each patient with GH₵380 so we will add the remaining balance so that they don’t pay anything for the two sessions.
“However, the patients at other facilities don’t get any support at all, and to be fair, we decided to support them fully for two sessions as well,” he explained the modality of implementation.
He further noted that the final step before implementing the support involves developing the necessary mechanisms.
“All I need now is to develop the BRG code so that when the patients go to the hospitals or facilities they can access this support. The money is available, it is left with the mechanism so by June 1 we should roll this out,” he confirmed.
When questioned about the sustainability of the support, Dr. Da-Costa expressed hope that by the end of the sixth month, the government would allocate additional funds to sustain the initiative.
