Increase NHIS levy to cover breast cancer treatment – Government charged

The Deputy Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Alhaji Alhab Issa, has appealed to the government to increase the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Levy to cover the cost of breast cancer treatment.

Currently, treatment for breast cancer is not fully covered by the insurance scheme.

Speaking at the launch of the Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project, Alhaji Issa enumerated reasons for the increase and also indicated that “at least 0.5% of the levy should be allocated to it [breast cancer treatment]”.

For him, Ghana’s current breast cancer situation demands drastic measures to tackle the menace.

In 2019, Ghana registered over 2,900 total deaths due to breast cancer, increasing from the previous year. The number of breast cancer deaths peaked in 2019 as it kept an upward trend since 2000. That year, the number of breast cancer deaths reached 1,336, according to data collation firm Statistica.

On his part, the Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, noted that the yearly advocacy for the disease is not producing the desired results as many victims are taken by surprise.

“The disease breaks families apart. The cost of treatment involved is huge, and the chance of survival of a patient is narrow, so we have to fight breast cancer every day and not only in October. The yearly advocacy is not sustainable,” he emphasised.

Mr. Kwarteng said apart from the advocacy, the Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project will support breast cancer patients financially to undergo treatment.

“We would go to female prisons, villages, towns, to drum home the advocacy to do early examination and screening of the breast. The project would be run alongside CCF’s Health Check Series to support patients undergoing treatment,” he noted.

Appealing to all well-meaning Ghanaians and the donor community, Mr. Kwarteng asked for support to carry out the philanthropic project.

“I am going to do this till I depart this earth,” he pledged.

The ‘Meena Breast Cancer Awareness’ project was launched in Accra on October 6, 2022, in memory of Mrs Amina Oppong Kwarteng, who died of breast cancer in July 2022.

Donations could be sent to mobile phone number 054 5822 773 to support the project.