Alliance urges capture of NCDs on NHIS

• Participants at the workshop

The Ghana Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Alliance, a civil society organisation, has re-echoed the need for the nation to capture the NCDs on the list of medication of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Mrs Ama Nyarko, a NCDs advocate and member of the Alliance which works to prevent and control NCDs in the country, noted that NCDs remained a leading cause of deaths in the country, urging the government to prioritise its fight.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-lines of a day’s training workshop held at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region, Mrs Nyarko expressed worry that NCDs killed more people in deprived communities due to patients’ inability to procure drugs and medication.

The Alliance organised the training for some of its members and some people living with NCDs to empower them to remain on the forefront to prevent and control NCDs in the local communities in the Tano North Municipality of the region.

“We can’t continue to neglect NCDs and allow patients to die preventable and needless deaths,” Mrs Nyarko stated, and therefore, called on the Ministry of Health to prioritise NCDs fight and prevention too.

Mr Christopher Agbega, the Coordinator for the Alliance, highlighted the relevance of the training, saying it was also geared towards enhancing the wellbeing of people living with NCDs.

He expressed concern about the societal stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with NCDs and called for collective effort to stem it, saying the high stigma was also a contributing factor that leads to the rising deaths. —GNA