The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has stated that the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government failed to establish a sustainable funding source for free dialysis treatment.
Speaking at the official inauguration of the Ghana Medical Care Trust Fund (MahamaCares) Taskforce on Wednesday, March 12, he said the absence of a dedicated fund made it impossible to provide free dialysis nationwide.
“I was a Ranking Member on the health committee, so there was no sustainable source of funding for dialysis. It never happened,” he revealed.
The Minister asserted that the efforts made under the NPP government to allocate funds for dialysis treatment were insufficient.
“They allocated 2 million Ghana cedis and had to take an additional 2 million from corporate social responsibility. I can tell you, 4 million Ghana cedis cannot take care of dialysis in the whole country. So there needs to be a sustainable and reliable source of funding,” he stressed.
In an interview with Accra-based JoyNews, the Juaboso Member of Parliament dismissed claims that free dialysis was available anywhere in Ghana.
“I get confused when people say there is free dialysis somewhere in Ghana. This is a misleading statement. There’s no free dialysis anywhere.”
He further explained that a National Health Insurance Formula that temporarily covered dialysis treatment expired on December 31, 2024, and no policy or funding source was put in place to sustain it.
