By: Mercy Darko
The National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, will now cover the treatment of four childhood cancers.
This is part of efforts to minimize the needless cancer-related childhood deaths and also reduce the financial burden on parents and guardians who have children who are cancer patients.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia who officially announced this in Accra said the future of children can only be secured if all the factors that threaten their existence and quality of life are eliminated, stressing that government is determined to make it happen.
He urged stakeholders to leverage technology in order to attain quality data that will inform government’s decisions to initiate interventions for positive outcomes in the treatment of childhood cancers and other diseases.
Statistics show that globally, about 400,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year. In Ghana, it is estimated that 1,200 children under the age of 15 develop cancer annually. The good news however is that experts say about 80 percent of childhood cancers are curable when detected early with progressive treatment.
It is for this reason that government through the National Health Insurance Authority in partnership with Roche and other partners has taken the bold initiative to enable the National Health Insurance Scheme cover the treatment of childhood cancers.
The Vice President indicated that to ensure desired results, technology such as telemedicine may help to bridge the barriers to quality health care as patients can sit in the comfort of their homes and access healthcare professionals remotely. He added that health is money as it has a direct impact on productivity and the health of children affects parents and their work whether it’s a child with cancer or any other diseases.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, in a remark appealed to Ghanaians to adopt a healthy lifestyle in order to minimize the risk factors for diseases, especially cancer. He said the Ministry will not rest on its oars to ensure a healthy population.
The Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, bemoaned the increasing cases of childhood cancers in Ghana. He noted that the Authority is committed to ensuring an effective Healthcare delivery adding that very soon the printing of the NHIS cards will be a thing of the past as the Authority goes digital.
In a presentation on the management of childhood cancers the present and prospects in Ghana, a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at the KomfoAnokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Vivian Paintsil, said while this is a step in the right direction, stakeholders must ensure that there are quality drugs for the treatment of patients as the world aims at saving at least a million children with cancer by the year 2030. The programme focused on Assuring Sustainable and Innovative Childhood Cancer Services in Ghana and Securing our children’s future.