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 on his behalf by Mr Francis Oti Frempong, Director, Membership and Regional Operations, said the NHIA as part of its operations was 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 had 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 was 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 had played over the years 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.
Source: Ghana News Agency