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The acting Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, who made this known, said the high cost of medication had made it impossible for many people with cancer to gain access to quality health care.
“To the ordinary Ghanaian, a cancer automatically becomes a death sentence. People can just not afford medications,” she said.
Speaking at the University of Ghana (UG) College of Health Sciences 5th Biennial Scientific Conference yesterday, Dr Commeh said while many cancers were not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), patients of cancers covered by the NHIS had to pay so much out-of-pocket expenses.
Such a situation drained them of their resources, while putting their families under enormous financial strain, the NCD Programmes Manager said at the three-day conference which has brought together researchers, medical professionals, students, policy makers and those in academia to brainstorm on some pressing health issues.
This year’s conference focuses on cancer, and is on the theme “Evolving Dynamics of Cancer Epidemiology”.
Cost
Relying on a research, Dr Commeh said the average cost of treatment for colorectal and multiple myeloma cancers were around $5,200 and $33,000 respectively.
Again, she said the average cost of treatment for breast cancer was around GH¢90,000, while some medications for prostate cancer could cost as much as GH¢9,000.
“For cancer care, both the direct and indirect costs are having a huge toll on patients. The question is how come our health benefit packages claim to cover some cancers but practically when the patient now develops the cancer, they are made to pay huge out-of-pocket expenses”.
“If we say we are covering cancers, then we must truly cover them to alleviate the suffering on patients,” she stressed.
Statistics
Statistics provided by Dr Commeh showed that in 2022, there were 27,385 new cases of various types of cancers in the country, while 17,944 people died from cancers, with the number of prevalent cases at 63,764.
The statistics showed that 15,987 of the 27,385 new cases were females, with the rest being males, while females also suffered more deaths from cancers with 9,856 out of the 17,944 deaths.
Globally, it is estimated that one out of five persons are likely to develop some form of cancer. Previously under the NHIS scheme, only cervical and breast cancer treatments were covered by the scheme.
This has been expanded to include four childhood cancers in June 2022, which are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Burkitt Lymphoma, Retinoblastoma, and Wilms Tumor.
Affordable care
Dr Commeh said although the country was doing well in terms of diagnosis and other aspects of combating cancers, it was important for systems to be put in place to make treatment of cancers affordable.
“We must ensure that people can afford the cost of care because how good is it if we can diagnose someone, which in itself can cause the person’s death due to the shock of being told of having a terminal illness, and the person not being able to afford the care that he or she needs,” she added.
In terms of preventive measures against cancers, Dr Commeh said there was the need to expand the scope of awareness creation to make people aware of cancers.
According to her, although some cancers came about as result of genetic make ups of people and environmental factors, there were also lifestyle choices that could contribute to cancers.
“Unfortunately, most of the funding on cancer in this country is targeted towards breast cancers. Accordingly, most of the interventions in cancer care is also skewed towards breast cancer,” she added.
“Cervical cancer awareness creation is almost non-existent, prostrate cancer, extremely limited,” Dr Commey said.
To counter this trend, the NCD Programme Manager said the GHS and its partners were implementing many programmes to increase awareness on different forms of cancers.
Research funding
The Pro-Vice Chancellor of UG for Students and Academic Affairs, Professor Gordon Awandare, called for more funding for research to help the country make inroads in fighting cancers.
He described as unfortunate the state of research funding in the country which he said was nothing to be proud of.
Prof. Awandare, therefore, appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo to implement the new Research and Innovation law, which called for adequate funding for research.
“There is no developed country that does not have a dedicated fund for research where researchers can access funds through competitive processes. Ghana is way behind on this,” he added.
For his part, the Provost of UG College of Health Sciences, Prof. Alfred Edwin Yawson, said the conference was a platform for stakeholders in health to help shape and positively influence national policy.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
