Absorbing childhood cancer into NHIS: Partners want clarity on coverage
Some partners involved in providing various forms of support including financial to childhood cancer treatment in the country have appealed to the Ministry of Health to specify the areas the National Health Insurance Scheme would absorb with the enrolment of childhood cancer treatment onto the scheme to enable them to know which areas they could solicit for help from donor agencies.
They said leaving it blank as it was presently created problems, especially because donors would think the government was absorbing everything under the treatment of the condition for which reason when they go to them to ask for funding, they would be unwilling to do so.
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The partners are the World Child Cancer and the ROCHE Products Ghana Limited. They expressed this concern at the launch of this year’s International Childhood Cancer (ICCD).
The celebration of the day, which was on the theme, “Better Survival is achieveable through your hands, was spearheaded by the World Child Cancer.”
Absorption
In November last year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, directed that the treatment of four childhood cancers be included in the benefit package of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with immediate effect.
The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who revealed this at the launch of last year’s National Health Insurance Week in Accra, mentioned those four childhood cancers to be Burkitt Lymphoma, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Wilms tumour (which starts in the kidney) and Retinoblastoma (which occurs in the eye). These four cancers are reported to constitute 60 per cent of all childhood cancer cases in the country.
While commending the government for that decision, the World Child Cancer Regional Coordinator for sub Saharan Africa, Mr Emmanuel Ayire Adongo, said if the ministry did nothing about specifying which packages the NHIS would cover, the absorption of the condition onto the scheme although positive, might turn up negative.
“We have six index cancers and out of these, government is absorbing four but which components of the four are they absorbing? When you take the diagnostic component, what are they absorbing? For the treatment component, what are they absorbing - are they absorbing radiotherapy or they are absorbing surgeries? The retinoblastoma, are they absorbing the prosthesis, the inosculation, radiation and all the treatment? The drugs, is it all the drugs because there are different treatment regimen? So they need to compile the package so that we can use it to tell the donor community that these are the areas that are not being covered so that they can come in to help,” he pointed out.
Hostel facility
He commended the First Lady for her support for the construction of a hostel facility for parents of children with cancers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and described the gesture as pragmatic and essential.
However, he said since Korle Bu was not the only childhood cancer treatment centre in the country and all the other centres did not have hostels, there was a lot more to be done.
A representative of Ghana Parents of Children with Cancer (GHAPACC), Dr John Ahenkorah, urged parents of children with cancer that now that there was a hostel facility for them at Korle Bu, they should not abandon the treatment of their children with the excuse that they had no place to sleep.
For his part, a representative from the Roche Products Ghana Limited, Mr Prince Aryee, asked all partners involved in providing support to childhood cancer treatment to think of other avenues of funding to help the government as it absorbed the treatment into the NHIA adding that this way, more children with cancers could benefit.
Appreciation
In her keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Health, Ms Tina Mensah, speaking to the theme, expressed the appreciation of the government to all heath staff who throughout the years had contributed greatly to the care of children with cancers.
“We are committed in ensuring that more oncologists, oncology nurses and other health personnel needed to care for persons diagnosed of cancer in the country are trained accordingly,” she said.
She called on all to come together to make childhood cancer a national children’s priority to ensure that every child with cancer receives early and proper diagnosis, had access to life-saving essential medicines, receives appropriate and quality medical treatment and sustainable and livelihood opportunities for survival.
Childhood Cancer Day
International Childhood Cancer Day is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness of childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families. It is commemorated every February 15.
This year’s theme paid tribute to the medical team and healthcare workers and the positive impact they have on the lives of children and adolescents with cancer and vice versa.