The Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital, a private healthcare facility based in Accra has increased dialysis patients who receive treatment at its centre from 15 to 80 since the announcement of Government’s free dialysis treatment program.
With 10 dialysis machines, and two insolation, the Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital can treat 30 dialysis patients in a day.
Previously, dialysis were performed at public hospitals and since the announcement of the government’s free dialysis treatment, private hospitals such as Accra Newton Islamic Hospital offers free dialysis treatment for its community who are mostly low income residents.
As an accredited facility offering free dialysis treatment, the Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital which previously charged Ghc500 per session had absorbed Ghc 9 per session as the government’s standardised charge is Ghc 491.
The General Manager of the Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital, Ms. Ramatu Issah in an interview on Thursday said there has been an improvement in dialysis treatment after her facility enrolled onto the NHS scheme adding: “Currently we have about 80 dialysis clients. NHS is a relief to the client or the patient that undergo this (dialysis) procedure.”
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) released a list of accredited health facilities set to provide free dialysis treatment across Ghana, effective December 1, 2024.
This initiative, announced by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is aimed to alleviate the financial burden on kidney patients covered by the NHIS.
The policy has been build on a successful pilot programme that earlier catered for patients under 18 and those over 60 years old.
Ms Ramatu Issah said averagely, a patient spends about GHc 6000 every month to dialyze, that is twice in a week and eight times in a month adding, “Most of them are people of young age who had barely started work and could not afford to pay for the treatment.”
She said most dialysis patients could not afford to consistently pay for the treatment which became a burden on them, their families, and sometimes the facility, adding: “Some just come in and they don’t have the money to pay. They cannot afford it, but seeing the situation, the facility had to come in sometimes to help them.”
“So I think it’s a very great relief for dialysis patients, their families, health facilities, government and the Nation, for the National Health Insurance Scheme to take up the cost of treatment on every dialysis patient every month.”
Ms. Ramatu said her facility has 10 dialysis machines and two in the isolation “so in a day we can have three sections. It means we can dialyze about 30 people in the facility in a day, because a client goes for four hours, so we can dialyze about three times.”
She said though some of the causes of kidney problems were as a result of auto immune diseases, people could adopt to healthy lifestyle by refraining from excessive alcohol intake, drug abuse that normally causes chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, adding, “kidney diseases are becoming too many and could be a threat to the Country’s future.”
Ms. Ramatu Issah is confident that the government would be able to to hold onto the policy, mobilise enough funds, expand and support the various facilities who currently run the program.
The Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital run services like general OPD and IPD services and in their diagnostic department, the do all laboratories, ultrasound scans, X rays and CT scans, which is few in the city.
Currently operating also in. Kumasi, Accra Newtown Islamic Hospital also ran other services, such as specialist services like eye dental and then ENT services, dialysis services and looking forward to opening more centres and other regions of Ghana.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah
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