By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, July 24, GNA – The project team on the Participatory Approaches to Support Patient-centred Sickle Cell Disease Management in Africa (PACTS) have seen significant improvement in managing sickle cell patients in Kumasi.
Currently, patients in Kumasi are able to access Hydroxyurea, Penicillin prophylaxis and blood transfusion – evidence-based things used in the management of the disease world over.
Professor Alex Osei-Akoto, the PACTS Country Lead, presenting the progress at a learning session in Kumasi explained that, the research project, which began for years ago looked at six facilities in Kumasi, led by the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) where most of sickle cell work is centered, Kumasi South Hospital, Manhyia Government Hospital, Asokwa Children’s Hospital, KNUST Hospital and the Maternal and Children’s Hospital at Adum.
The challenge had always been that, patients who had to get treatment for sickle cell disease most times do not get it, citing that hydroxyurea for instance, was a challenge in many African settings as well as blood transfusion and use of penicillin.
He explained that each of the working facilities have come out with their problems and found ways to resolve them.
The striking outcome, according to him, was that apart from KATH which was offering Hydroxyurea to its patients, all the five other facilities did not have that and patients who accessed health in these facilities had to go back to KATH to access that medication.
Professor Alex Osei-Akoto said: “With the programme in place, the teams have come up with solutions and currently, all the facilities have access to all medications, which is catered for by the National health Insurance Scheme.
“The other thing with hydroxyurea is that children cannot take in capsules but now all the institutions have learnt to reconstitute these capsules into suspension for the children.
“Moreso, the waiting period for sickle patients has been cut down.”
He stated that at the KATH, patients would have to wait for about 4 hours at the pharmacy before getting their medications and that time had been cut to one and half hours.
Prof. Osei-Akoto indicated that the expectation was that these institutions would continue helping patients in terms of accessibility arguing that, these were standards globally.
Another success, he mentioned, was communities becoming more aware of the disease and stigmatizing against sickle cell patients reducing.
The Country Lead believed that going forward the studies would guide the Health Ministry and the Ghana Health Service to offer the needed assistance as well as sustaining these interventions across health facilities in Ghana.
The PACTS is a research collaboration dedicated to improving health outcomes for sickle cell diseases patients across Africa.
It is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research with collaborating institutions being the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, University of Abuja, University of Zambia, University Health College, London, and Syracuse University, USA.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Florence Afriyie Mensah
Email: [email protected]