The All People’s Congress (APC) has called on the government to absorb the cost of dialysis and childbirth delivery in the country.
The APC leader has also urged the government to scrap all taxes on medical consumables for dialysis.
In a statement signed by its founder and leader, Hassan Ayariga, it described a 100 per cent increment of the high cost of dialysis in Ghana as sad and worrying.
“A whopping 100 per cent increment is a big problem for Ghanaians living with kidney disease.
We cannot allow our citizens to face these challenges when the Government can absorb the cost of dialysis,” it said.
Taxes
It questioned why the government was taxing consumables for dialysis and giving free taxes to foreign-owned businesses to the detriment of “our fellow Ghanaians.”
“Many foreign businesses in Ghana are exempted from paying taxes on imported goods and services, while our own government agencies and institutions are made to pay huge taxes for the same goods and services.
Why?” it queried.
The statement indicated that the lives of Ghanaians must be protected by all means necessary, stressing that a healthy society is a healthy nation.
Centres
It also urged the government to build dialysis centres in all the regions of Ghana and also consider manufacturing and producing some medical consumables in Ghana to help reduce the cost of treatment.
It further called for the scrapping of all taxes on medication for non-communicable diseases to reduce the cost of drugs and treatment of those diseases.
The statement also called for the restructuring and resourcing of the National Health Insurance Scheme to absorb certain communicable diseases and urged the government to build a good health infrastructure to facilitate the transplant of organs.
Source: Graphiconline