The government is ready to provide completely free dialysis treatment for all persons suffering from kidney disease, effective December 1, 2024.

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) 's Chief Executive, Dr Da-Costa Aboagye, made this known at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region during the official launch of the Authority’s Electronic Health Services Application (NeHSA) Telehealth initiative.

This, he said, demonstrated the government's focus on improving healthcare outcomes for vulnerable populations.

“Under the new policy, registered kidney patients under the NHIS will be entitled to free dialysis treatment, a measure aimed at easing the financial burden on patients and their families, who often struggle to afford the costly procedure.”

He said the government was impressed with the NHIA’s successful pilot program, which initially covered persons suffering from kidney disease who were above 60 and under 18 years of age.

He revealed that during the pilot stage, the NHIA paid over Ghs1.5million to credentialed healthcare providers to cover the expenses for dialysis services.

The recipients were Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), Efia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH), Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).

He praised the government, saying, “The Government of the day has added more complex diseases to the NHIS Benefit Package than any other government in the Fourth Republic. Recently, we added dialysis. It was on a pilot, and as we announced yesterday, we have actually finished the pilot, and from the 1st of December, all kidney dialysis will be free in this country.”

“Childhood cancer was a big problem in this country. Today, as we speak, we cover all childhood cancers. Not only that, we have provided prescriptions for breast cancer, and it's also covered under the National Health Insurance package, including four top most mental health diseases.”

Dr. Da-Costa Aboagye further announced that the NHIA had cleared a legacy debt of Ghs1.2 billion accumulated by the previous government. “Today, with the help of Dr. Bawumia’s NPP government, we have no Claims backlog.”

Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah