‘Provide resources, attention to children with cerebral palsy’
Parents who give birth to children with cerebral palsy (CP), a brain disorder that impairs control of movement, face a lot of frustrations.
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According to the parents, apart from the fact that the cost of care is expensive and no special clinic exists to care for the children, some schools reject them while those that accept them end up maltreating them.
These frustrations and sometimes rejection by family members have forced some parents to send their children with CP to shrines and prayer camps, where concoctions given to them end up killing the innocent children.
Addressing caregivers of children with cerebral palsy at a programme held in Dodowa, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Nana Oye Lithur, said the ministry, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), was rolling out a scheme under which children with CP would be registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for free.
She said, the initiative would help the children with CP to gain free access to medical care, adding that they would also be helped with physiotherapy treatment, and also reduce the cost of their medication.
Over 1,000 children have been registered since the implementation of the programme.
List of basic drugs
Nana Lithur also said the ministry had asked the NHIS to look through the list of drugs and “if possible add some of the basic drugs to the scheme for the cost to be reduced for the caregivers and parents”.
She advised the various leaders of the caregivers to make a list of the children so that they would be registered with the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), stressing that persons with disability were the key target of the LEAP programme.
Concerns
Caregivers and parents of CP children raised concerns over the difficulties and issues they encountered raising the children, at the programme held to mark World Cerebral Palsy Day, celebrated every first Wednesday of October.
A parent complained that she had not worked for the past 15 years because no one was ready to take care of her child and that she spent almost GH₵100 on diapers a week and GH₵ 1,200 a month on drugs.
Another parent said his family had abandoned him since they got to know of his son’s condition, and had even blamed him for the situation.
The foundation
Giving a background to the formation of the Association of Cerebral Palsy Caregivers, the Director of the District Health Service of the Shai Osudoku District, Rev. Ebenezer Asiamah, said the association was established in 2012 with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Christian Blind Mission (CMB), a Non-governmental organisation.
Research
The Director, Development and Social Services of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. E.K. Asante, said a study had revealed that caregivers could bring changes to the lives of CP children through the monthly training and support groups, indicating that, so far, there was 30 per cent improvement in the overall quality of life.
Rev. Asante expressed concern over the strong stigma and discrimination against children with CP and their caregivers, saying due to the stigma, most children had dropped out of school because they did not have the support and understanding from peers and teachers, while in 50 per cent households, the care of the father of the child was absent.
