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Govt ready to add cancer treatment to NHIS
Ashanti Regional Minister
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, has indicated government’s readiness to add the treatments of cancer to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to enhance treatments.
The Minister was speaking at an outreach programme organised by Breast Care International (BCI) and partners at the Straight Way Chapel International Church at Santasi, in Kumasi to mark this year’s Cancer Day.
It was on the theme, “Close the Care Gap.”
Mr. Osei Mensah, who chaired the programme indicated that early detection would prevent the escalation of the disease and reduce the mortality rate.
Dr. Wiafe Addai, President and Founder BCI, stated that, currently, cancer was the second leading disease in Ghana and second cause of death worldwide, and that 10 million people die from cancer yearly, with more than 40 per cent being women.
She argued why government and all stakeholders were making the treatment of cancer costly and not affordable to patients.
In Ghana, she said, 2,020 women die every year, adding that every minute everywhere around the world, women die from Breast Cancer because of disparities and the cost of the treatment.
She indicated that, approximately 70 per cent of all cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries which were least placed to deliver the services needed by people living with cancer or manage the social or economic consequences of the burden.
Dr. Wiafe-Addai explained that, Union International Cancer Control (UICC) World Cancer Day Equity Report, shared a light on the barriers to care and significant disparities in outcomes due to prejudices and assumptions based on socioeconomic status, gender and other cultural norms, race and ethnicity, age, geographical location, sexual orientation and disability.
To further mark the final year of the Close the Care Gap campaign, she said, UICC was mobilising a global call to action that echoes the sentiments and recommendations expressed in the World Cancer Day Equity Report.
She noted that, UICC was encouraging all health organisations to sign the call to action, informing their respective ministries of health of the need to close the care gap and recommended actions that could help do so.
Dr. Samuel Amanama, Consultant Urologist and Sexopathologist, says it was time for the world to unite in the fight against cervical and other gynaecological cancers.
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi