NDC government will establish kidney and cancer trust fund - John Mahama

The presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has said the next NDC administration would establish a Cancer and Kidney Disease Trust Fund to support afflicted Ghanaians who need assistance to treat such conditions.

Speaking at a Townhall Meeting on Tuesday in Kumasi on the ‘People’s Manifesto’ the former president there are several patients with such conditions who have no resources to seek treatment.

The Fund he assured would provide such support for all patients with such conditions.

In 2018, recorded a total of 547 chronic kidney disease cases which, he said, was alarming because the figures from other facilities were unknown.

Chronic kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney failure, is the gradual loss of kidney function.

Chronic kidney disease is commonly caused by diabetes and high blood pressure, which are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases at the facility.

In March 2020, Dr Mensah Amoah, a Physician Specialist and Nephrology Fellow at the hospital disclosed that persons with such conditions were between the ages of 20 to 40 years.

Kidney failure or chronic kidney failure topped the list of ten killer diseases which contributed to high death rates at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital alone.