The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has appealed to the Ministry of Health and the Nation Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to include cervical cancer treatment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The decision, according to GRNMA will help reduce cervical cancer mortality across the country.
The National Coordinator for Women and Gender at the GRNMA, Mrs Irene Mensah Jacobs made the call when GRNMA organized the Women and Gender Seminar at Ejisu-Krapa in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
Held on Friday, June 16, 2023, the event brought together hundreds of nurses and Midwives who used the opportunity to deliberate on issues affecting women with cervical cancer on top of the agenda.
Speaking on the theme “Empowering Women to Take Advantage of Their Lives through Vaccination against Cervical Cancer” Mrs Irene Mensah Jacobs entreated the government to facilitate an option for users of NHIS cards to access cervical cancer to protect women from succumbing to the disease.
She called on the government and other stakeholders in the health sector to provide free cervical cancer screening and vaccination to women in the country.
She underscored the dangers of cancer and called for concerted efforts to end it in Ghana.
“Cervical is one of the topmost causes of fatalities worldwide, with mortality and incidence rates highest in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana”.
“The numbers in Ghana keep soaring with every passing year, hence the need to create more awareness and support victims”. She said.
Speaking to OTEC News Jacob Agyenim Boateng at the sidelines of the event, Oncology Nurse Specialist at the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Miss Dorcas Yeboah said the rate at which women were dying from cervical cancer was alarming.
She noted that cervical cancer is the second most fatal cancer after breast cancer in Ghana, urging stakeholders in the health sector to work towards taming cancer.
Miss Dorcas Yeboah disclosed that treatment for cervical cancer is expensive and has thus pushed many away from getting early treatment.
Source: Ghana Web