By Albert Allotey, GNA
Accra, Nov. 14, GNA ā Government has been urged to speed up the expansion of the Free Primary Care (FPHC) Policy to all districts across the country, to save the lives of people with chronic diseases.
Ms Martha Cofie, a member of the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance Ghana (NCDA-Gh) who made the appeal, also reminded the government of its promise of supplying medicines and basic equipment to support treatment of these illnesses to every Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compound.
Ms Cofie was speaking at a multisectoral stakeholder engagement to assess the status of the implementation of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF) and the FPHC Policy, organised by the NCDA-Gh in Accra.
It was attended by representatives of government institutions, civil society organisations, health sector institutions, development partners, Community Health Management Committees, people living with NCDs, patient organisations, academia, the media and other relevant stakeholders.
The meeting centred on implementation progress, financing and operational gaps, public participation, accountability and the long-term sustainability of the two initiatives.
Ms Cofie advised that people should be allowed to register for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at the point of the GMTF enrolment or be allowed for emergency enrolment if diagnosed with cancer or kidney failure, arguing that no one should be denied immediate healthcare access because their card had expired.
She said the GMTF must be brought closer to the people by establishing regional and district desks and focal persons in all hospitals – not only in teaching hospitals.
She called for publication in local languages on who qualified to benefit from the initiative, what is covered, where to apply, and how long it took.
Again, she suggested the provision of transport support or the decentralisation of diagnostics, so avoid people having to travel long distances to Accra and other cities for a scan and to include people living with NCD in decision-making.
Ms Cofie said in policy, people living with NCDs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) must sit on the GMTF Board, technical committees, and FPHC implementation committees from the start, not only at validation meetings.
āIn implementation CSOs can do what government cannot do alone – community screening, peer support, follow-up, health education in local languages, and tracking if medicines are in stock,ā she stated.
She also said Government must publish a quarterly report on how many people applied for the GMTF support, number of approvals, how long they waited, how much was spent and where, to help CSOs and people living with NCDs to verify and give feedback.
She stated that NCD treatments were lifelong and the GMTF should cover the payment of follow-ups visits and provide medicines for long-term management, and palliative care.
She urged the NHIS and GMTF to collaborate with private sector and other stakeholders to coordinate efforts, to consolidate fragmented gaps in tackling progress.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo