Ghanaians told to spend on health rather than the dead

The Society of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners (SPMDP) of Ghana, has called on Ghanaians to change their attitudes and contribute money to pay the hospital bills of their sick relatives just like they do when they die.

The President of the Society, Joseph Kwasi Hanson said Ghanaians spend more money on other things, which were not very necessary, instead of spending on their health.

This was contained in a communiqué he read at the end of the 32nd Annual Congress of the Society at Koforidua, which was organized under the theme “Medical Technology and Society”.

The communiqué regretted that, the limitation imposed on the use of some modern technologies by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), meant that, some standard diagnostic and treatment methods like radiotherapy for breast and prostate cancer could not be offered to clients of the Scheme.

It therefore called for the review of diagnostic treatments not covered by NHIS, including physiotherapy detection and management, procedures for cancers of the cervix, breast and prostrate.

The communiqué resolved that, there should be an increase in members’ capacity to acquire, train, manage and more fully utilize the many modern medical technological advances that were available today.

It urged the Ministry of Health to regulate the establishment and activities of all diagnostic facilities, including laboratories, ultrasound facilities, X-ray facilities and eye screening centres.

The communiqué appealed to Ghanaians to be careful about advertisements and false claims about the use of technology to diagnose and treat all sorts of diseases that appear in the media by unqualified and non-medical personnel.

Source: GNA