The rising cost of renal dialysis has prompted a call on government to establish a National Medical Fund to absorb the cost of non-communicable diseases for patients who cannot afford, Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has suggested.
“I agree that as a nation, it is time we have a medical fund, a national medical fund. The state has not made provision for categories of medical conditions to be absorbed. I think that we need a national medical fund, it is not beyond us,” he said on TV3 whilst contributing on the increment of the cost of renal dialysis at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on the KeyPoints Saturday, September 30, 2023.
The #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration that came off September 21, 2023, revealed that the cost of renal dialysis has been increased from GHC380 to GHC765.42 after a protestor lamented to the media that persons with the chronic kidney infection can no longer afford the cost.
The matter sparked public uproar after the media took over the issue, with many people calling for the head of the Chief Executive Officer of the teaching hospital and the person in charge of the dialysis unit.
The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mustapha Seidu, indicated that the increment was necessitated by the high taxes the hospital had to bear due to the scraping of some tax reliefs they were hitherto given when clearing the equipment for the unit.
When it came to bear that the increment had not been approved by Parliament and was therefore illegal, the CEO, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah said the release of the new price was a mistake as measures were now in place to get the Minister of Health to present it in Parliament for approval.
When calls came for him to compensate those who have been charged with the new illegal fees, he said only six (6) patients had been affected and since they were regular visitors of the facility, they going to offset the cost in their subsequent visits.
But according to Mr. Dafeamekpor, the nation can alternatively “amend the National Health Insurance Acts to include [the cost of dialysis and others] because there is a fund in there to include the health conditions that the fund will cater for. These are special categories that used to be rare, but now they are becoming common. On the receipt, there is a category where the dialysis is in respect of someone who is more than 12 years and this suggests that, there are less than 12 years old who are being treated for dialysis.”
“As a Member of Parliament, maybe I could need a couple of my friends, my colleagues in parliament, we can bring a private member bill to set up a private medical fund so that when these matters happen, the people can apply,” he stated.
READ ALSO: Korle-Bu management cites removal of subsidy by gov’t for over 100% increment in cost of dialysis
