Accra, March 16, GNA - A Resource Person at a seminar on Persons with Disability (PWDs) and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on Friday said the scheme was not disability friendly since it did not cater for the specialized needs of the disabled.

Mr. Prince Lamptey, Programme Officer of the Community Care Department of the Social Welfare, said the NHIS was perceived from a general perspective instead of selectively addressing the specific needs of PWDs.

"This is because aids for the disabled, including spectacles, clutches, and wheel chairs which were deemed expensive were excluded from the NHIS list. This is not fair because what the Law assumes are the specialized needs of patients are rather the basic needs of PWDs." The seminar was organized by the Disabled Christian Fellowship International (DCFI) under the theme; "Accessible and Quality Health Care for the Disabled, Challenges of the NHIS"

He said section 31 of part five (5) of the Disability Act stated that the Ministry of Health shall provide free general and specialised medical care as well as rehabilitative and appropriate devices for PWDs, but the NHIS was silent on this provision.

He said there was the need to review the law to enable the PWDs to derive the maximum benefit because as it currently stood, the basic need of the disabled were not provided since they were deemed to be expensive.

Mr. Lamptey said another major problem with the NHIS was the six months period between registration and the issuance of the Identity Card as one could not access medical care even when the need arose. He said with the review of the law, health providers could exercise some discretion to temporarily take care of PWDs, adding that this would open a window of hope for a majority who were not financially sound.

Mr. Lamptey said apart from the general problems FWDs faced, they were also discriminated against at the Health Institutions and called for a periodic workshop for health personnel for the better management of issues concerning the disabled.

He called for the establishment of a Disability Council to serve as a conduit between the government and the PWDs and also ensure that polices were implemented to the advantage of the disabled.

Mr. Peter Bediako Puni, Operations Officer of the NHIS said apart from the Private Mutual and Private Commercial Health Insurance Schemes, government was fully supportive of the District Mutual Health Insurance scheme since it catered for all persons, including indigents.

He defined an indigent as a person who has no visible or adequate means of income or nobody to support him or her and that some of the benefits included physiotherapy, OPD Surgical operation and emergencies, cervical cancer, accommodation in a general ward and feeding.

Mr. Puni said the exclusive list had issues like assisted reproduction, HIV/AIDS, cosmetic and aesthetic surgery, heart and brain surgery, cancer treatment apart from breast and cervical cancer and organ transplant among others.

He said the NHIS took care of about 95 per cent of individual illnesses and though the minimum payment was 72,000 cedis and 480,000 cedis maximum, one could contribute more if he had the means. Mr. Francis Adjetey Sowah, Executive Director of the DCFI said PWDs were not well cared for and that they had to pay full registration fees before they could access health care provided by NHIS.

He said the deaf experience communication barriers, as there were no sign language interpreters at the health care centers to cater for their needs promptly adding that disability was everybody's lot anytime because anybody could suffer from it. 16 March 07