NHIA to implement 6-month dialysis support on June 1 – CEO reveals

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Aboagye Da-Costa, has announced that his organization will begin providing support for dialysis treatment starting on June 1. During an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, May 15, Dr. Da-Costa mentioned that the support will be in place for the next six months.

This initiative follows the approval of GH₵2 million by Parliament to assist patients requiring dialysis in various parts of the country.

According to statistics, nearly 1,300 Ghanaians are on dialysis, and a renal patient requires about 12 sessions of dialysis a month. With the cost of GH₵380 per dialysis increased to GHS491, a patient will need nearly GHS6,000 a month for the full session.

According to the NHIA CEO, the funds allocation was decided by a committee consisting of major stakeholders including the CEOs and medical directors of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

He indicated that it was chaired by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Nsiah Asare, with the spokesperson for dialysis patients and himself as members.

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Cost of dialysis at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital increased to GHC491

“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 the final step before rolling out 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 asked about the sustainability of the support, Dr Da-Costa was hopeful that by the end of the sixth month, the government would have allocated more funds to the initiative.

By: Ama Cromwell