Dialysis patients have voiced the frustrations and concerns they encounter in receiving treatment in various health facilities across the country.
In a passionate plea during the “Dialysis Crisis: JoyNews Thought Leadership Event,” a patient, Thomas Vincent Cann, said patients are growing increasingly weary of government rhetoric and are demanding concrete action to address the pressing issues they face.
Mr Cann began by emphasising the urgent need for positive assurances from the government regarding the high cost of dialysis treatment.
He expressed his hope that the President’s Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, present at the dialogue, could offer assurances that prices would be reduced, and the government would provide subsidies.
These assurances, according to Cann, are crucial for the well-being of dialysis patients who are struggling to afford the lifesaving treatment.
“We’ll want some assurances that the prices will be reduced and the government will give a subsidy but if all hear is dialogue and no assurance that will be disappointing,” he said on Thursday.
The conversation at the event also shed light on the challenges faced by dialysis patients in accessing specialised care.
Mr Cann pointed out that patients from various regions of Ghana, including Western and Central areas, are forced to travel to the Greater Accra Region for crucial fistula surgery.
According although other hospitals across the country have qualified surgeons, this specialised procedure requires a high level of expertise and carries significant risks.
“All of these things are a burden to the patients. So I don’t know what policymakers and relevant stakeholders are thinking because it is really difficult.
“It is something that is really affecting people psychologically and emotionally. And I’ve said several times that this is a disease that can psychologically break you down which will even kill you faster than the disease itself.”
He therefore called on Dr. Nsiah Asare and his team to take swift action to address these pressing issues.
Adding that, as dialysis patients they prepared to meet with the President and “show him the scars on our skin if that is what it will take for him to know the reality on the ground.”
“[This is] because we don’t need the rhetoric, we need action.”
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