Renal dialysis must be included in NHIS benefits package – WHO Country Director

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to expand its benefits package to cover critical illnesses, including kidney diseases, to bring down the cost of dialysis.

Francis Chisaka Kasolo, the WHO Country Director, said that the recent outcry over the increase in dialysis fees at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital could be addressed if the NHIS were expanded to bear the cost for patients.

Kasolo said that a second look at the operations of the NHIS was needed.

“If our health insurance is strong, it can mitigate the cost of renal treatment services if it is included in the benefits package

This would have mitigated the out-of-pocket expenditures that we are beginning to see increase, and if that works, then we would have solved part of the problem of increasing out-of-pocket expenditure that we see with the dialysis cost.”