Cerebral Palsy treatments like physiotherapy is fully covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) benefit package in credentialled Health facilities.
Dr Da Costa Aboagye, the Chief Executive Office
of the NHIS announced this at the fund raiser organised by the Rotary Club of
Teshie-Nungua in support of a project dubbed “Okamafo” that seeks to support
persons with Cerebral palsy, Mental health issues and hypertension.
Dr Aboagye in a speech read for him by Mr. Francis Oti Frempong, Director, Membership and Regional Operations, said the
NHIA as part of its operations is ready to partner the Rotary Club to register
and renew the cards of poor and vulnerable groups for free, however, these
people should be under certified or accredited homes or institutions.
“The NHIS seeks to ensure the provision of
quality and affordable healthcare through a social Insurance,” he added
Dr Aboagye said Ghana has over the years
seen a lot of cases on cerebral palsy, hypertension and mental health
The cases of hypertension were reported as
600,000persons in 2022 with a lot of people not been diagnosed out there and
pointed out that hypertension diagnosis treatment and management is fully
covered under the NHIS.
On cerebral
Palsy, he said a total of 1 in child per 300 births were diagnosed of cerebral
palsy as per the 2023 report from the Ghana Health service.
“Although there is lack of reliable data
regarding the prevalence of mental and neurological disorders in Ghana, the WHO
estimates that approximately 13% of the Ghanaian population suffer from mental
disorders of which 3% suffer from severe disorder and the other 10% suffer from
moderate to mild mental disorders.”
He said the statistics were scary and there
was the need to treat them with all the needed seriousness”
Dr Aboagye said the successful launch of
the Annual Health Checker which is a bold step to offer every Ghanaian the
opportunity to visit a health provider for to be checked for conditions like
hypertension, diabetes amongst other non communicable diseases as a means of
preventive health and the opportunity for early detection and treatment.
Mental health is also a critical national
issue which is currently receiving attention ad said the mental Health bill is
currently going through actuarial studies to fully ascertain its inclusion on
the benefit package
He commended the Rotary club for the
pivotal role they have played over the years played in the Ghanaian economy by providing support
in various sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, peace building,
environmental protection community development and child health amongst others.
The Okamafo project by the Rotary club of
Accra-Teshie Nungua is leading other clubs to champion the cause of children and
persons with cerebral palsy, hypertension and mental health issues in Ghana.
Funds raised will be used to support the
Mephiboseth Training Centre in Gomoa, the Special Mothers project, an advocacy
platform for cerebral palsy issues and the Pantang Mental Hospital.
A quick survey on the Special Mothers
project platform on the issue of physiotherapy services being free in Ghana
indicated that some facilities provided the services free of charge once the
person has an NHIS card while others still charged for the services.
