Dr. Ezekiel Obeng-Agyekum, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Health Manifesto Committee, has firmly assured the public that the promise of free dialysis treatment made by the party’s Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is sincere and not a political ploy.
In his statement, Dr. Obeng-Agyekum emphasized that if Dr. Bawumia is elected in the 2024 general elections, the free dialysis initiative for renal patients will be fully implemented.
This pledge has faced criticism from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who have dismissed it as a mere political tactic aimed at misleading voters.
During an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point of View on Channel One TV, Dr. Obeng-Agyekum rejected these accusations, asserting that the promise is grounded in detailed data analysis.
He also expressed confidence that with proper management of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) funds and effective resource allocation, the initiative will be financially feasible and sustainable.
“The dialysis issue, we have had a lot of conversations around it. The government gave a road map that for starters, let’s pilot an idea where we seek to assist the people living with the condition. To start with, we said that anyone within the age of retirement will have free dialysis sessions. People within the ages of non-employability will also have dialysis being done for free. And those within the working age will have theirs subsidised.
“Within the six months, we were piloting the idea, reviewing the books, doing the calculations, doing the estimate, how many people are living with the conditions, we go back to about ten years. And with all things being equal under normal temperature and pressure, how many people are we envisaging to have the condition?
“What are the remittances to the National Health Insurance Scheme and whether it is feasible to cater completely for all persons living with the conditions? We did our studies and spoke to stakeholders, about proper management of the NHIS funds coming in, with proper allocation to the authority, we should be able to cover the condition. It has nothing to do with elections or electoral gimmicks, it’s a purely data-driven exercise that we did.”
