Okoe Boye advocates removal of taxes on dialysis consumables
The Minister designate for Health, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, has advocated the removal of some tax handles on dialysis consumables to lessen the “enormous burden” associated with renal treatment.
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He said tax handles constituted 30 per cent of the €100 cost of consumables used for every section of dialysis.
The nominee said a cost per section was equivalent to GH¢1,600 for consumables, and that a patient with kidney ailment needed two or three dialysis sections per a week.
“Some of these consumables have tax handles on them and so quickly we must work closely with the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet so that we free them from the consumables”, the minister-designate added.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for his vetting last Thursday, Dr Oko Boye said: “We have what it takes as a country to support kidney care; letting people who are in that condition handle their own issues is not a good option since the burden is enormous.”
“Our job is to find ways to uptake the burden so that when you step into Korle-Bu Hospital, you do not feel the full burden of the cost of care,” he added.
Dr Okoe Boye also suggested that the National Health Insurance Scheme could support tertiary and secondary hospitals where dialysis treatment were carried out.
Agenda 111
On the Agenda 111 project, a member of the committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said when officials of the secretariat appeared before the Health Committee of Parliament, it emerged that only GH¢251 out of the GH¢1.7 billion earmarked for the flagship programme had been disbursed.
“The President in his message on the State of the Nation address, assured citizens that he was going to inaugurate all 111 hospitals before he hands over as President in 2025.
“You have barely 10 months in the ministry and how are you going to make sure that we have dedicated sources of funding for the project to ensure its completion within 10 months?” he asked.
Responding, Dr Okoe Boye said the commitment of over GH¢251 million to the project was an indication of the government’s intent to improve infrastructure in the health sector.
He said currently there were 50 of such facilities that had “gone way up”, with some of them progressing steadily, and gave assurance that at least 40 of the facilities would be completed by the end of the year.
La General Hospital
With regard to the La General Hospital, Dr Okoe Boye defended the government’s decision to pull down the hospital facility.
He described the facility as a death trap that posed danger to both staff and patients.
“For La General Hospital, because I worked there, I have a personal experience of some of the discussions that led to the demolition. There were occasions when, while in a ward, a concrete slab would fall off the building and hit the ground,” the nominee said.
He expressed the government’s commitment to reconstruct the facility to bring relief to the people of La.
Also appearing before the committee was the Greater Accra Regional Minister designate, Daniel Titus-Glover.
