Group calls on government to include kidney treatment under NHIS

There has been increasing calls for government to support the treatment of kidney disease through the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Latest to join the clarion call is the Obuasi based Non-Governmental Organisation Girls Shall Grow.

Speaking at their Living right conference held primarily for girls in Obuasi, the Executive Director of the NGO Louisa Amoah said due to the cost of treatment of renal diseases, most patients are not able to afford furthering worsening their plight.

She however advocated for the expansion of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to include kidney diseases. This she said would enable people living with the disease access quality healthcare and save lives.

“The cost of dialysis has been of a major problem to patients who have to go through that process and as a Girl Child advocate, we see a lot of young girls develop kidney diseases lately hence our call for government to consider adding the treatment of the disease into the NHIS”.

The Living right conference coincided with tbe NGO’s 5th Anniversary. Mrs Amoah said the NGO through its campaigns on issues affecting the girl child such as teenage pregnancy has led to a drop in teenage pregnancy and further increase in enrollment among girls in school.

She intimated that Girls Shall Grow has succeeded in building the self-esteem, confidence, and resilience of the Girl Child through mentoring programs where girls are provided with guidance and support to help them navigate challenges and make positive choices in life.

The Executive Director of Girls Shall Grow conceeded that the war against discrimination and marginalisation of the Girl Child can only be won if all stakeholders including teachers, parents and religious leaders join forces to intensify campaign for women empowerment. Additionally, she advocated for attention to be paid to giving the male child equal attention when discussing women empowerment.

Intervention

Pastor Maxwell Kumi of Christ Embassy Church, Obuasi Mawuli who was sthe Guest speaker of the Living right conference in an interaction with the media called on churches to intervene to stop the increasing attrition rate among teachers and nurses in Ghana.

Experts are predicting a worrying future for Ghana in the wake of a high rate of migration of professional medical practitioners.

Nurses and doctors have become bent on leaving the country for developed countries for better working conditions.

Early this year, it is estimated that a little over 16,000 Ghanaian teachers applied to the Department of Education in the UK for employment and by June 13th 2023, 10,000 of the applicants with Ghana Teacher Licenses had been certified to work in the UK without any further assessment (qualified teacher status test) by the UK government.

The situation according to Pastor Kumi was worrying and called on religious leaders to speak against the phenomenon and advised government to put in measures which will encourage trained professionals to stay and work in the country.

“Ghana is a beautiful country with beautiful laws. It is rather unfortunate that some of us are running away to countries whose laws encourage all forms of homosexuality and polygamy contrally to what the Bible teaches us.”

He seized the opportunity to advise the youth to remain steadfast in the Lord by obeying the teachings of the Bible even whiles the strive to pursue academic excellence.

The participants who attended the program, mostly drawn from first and second cycle institutions in Obuasi lauded the Girls Shall Grow for their efforts in empowering the girl child over the years.