The National Health Students Association of Ghana (NHSAG) has joined calls for the inclusion of dialysis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
This comes after the management of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital increased the cost of renal dialysis from GHS¢380 to GHS¢765.42.
Although the implementation of the new fee has been halted, concerns persist about its implications for patients.
Daniel Onomah Asamoah, the President of the NHSA, urged the government to ease the burden on affected persons by absorbing the cost of treatment.
He said, “We made proposals to the government on the removal of import duties regarding consumables and treatment for dialysis, and another proposal has to do with its inclusion in the National Insurance Scheme.”
Ghanaians, particularly patients on dialysis treatment, were dismayed when the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital’s Renal Dialysis Unit announced the increase in the cost per session from GH¢380 to GHS¢765.42 on Wednesday, September 27.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament described the increase as illegal and outrageous and called on the hospital to immediately reverse it.
However, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a former cardiothoracic surgeon at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, has highlighted the financial burden that hospitals like Korle Bu face in procuring and maintaining advanced medical equipment required for treatments like dialysis.
