NHIS urged to absorb processing fee for blood, blood products

Chief Executive Officer of the National Blood Service, Dr. Justina Kordai Ansah, has appealed to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to absorb processing fees for blood and blood products.

Her appeal follows calls by the Ghanaian public including media rights advocate, Ing. Ken Ashigbey to the National Health Insurance authority to do same.

She said a workable financing arrangement should be made to replace the current out-of-pocket payment of processing fees by patients or their relatives.

Dr. Kordai made the appeal in a welcome address she delivered at the 2019 World Blood Donor Day event in Accra on the theme, “Blood Donation and Universal Access to Safe Blood Transfusion”, and the slogan, “Safe Blood for All”.

Blood transfusion, she said, is an indispensable intervention in health care delivery, which contributes to saving thousands of lives each year in routine and emergency cases.

The national blood supply system, she said, continues to rely heavily on replacement donations by relations and friends of patients who require blood transfusion.

In 2018 Ghana’s estimated national blood requirement was 280,000 units but total blood collected nationwide was a little above 169,000 units with 37% collected from voluntary unpaid donors.

The over-reliance on family replacement donation, she said, raises serious concerns about safety of donors and receipts of blood and blood products in health facilities.

She said, “On the demand side, geographic and financial access to adequate and safe blood and blood products remain critical for many individuals and communities.”

“As a result of challenges to universal access to safe blood transfusion in Ghana, the National Blood Service is implementing a National Blood Supply Strengthening Programme (NBSSP) to increase access to safe and quality blood services in the country.”

The NBSSP, she said, has an ambitious target of increasing the proportion of voluntary blood donations from the current low level of 37% to 75% within the short-to-medium term.

She indicated that expanding blood service infrastructure is at the heart of improving access to safe blood transfusion as a key component of achieving universal health coverage.

Dr. Kordai disclosed the National Blood Service has initiated steps to upgrade hospital blood banks of selected Regional Hospitals into Sub-Zonal Blood Centers to provide safe blood and blood products to other public and private hospitals within their catchment zones.

She revealed that given the needed support by Government, departments and agencies, corporate organizations, religious bodies and civil society organizations, the objective of the NBSSP would be achieved to address the perennial shortage of blood products without compromising on blood safety and quality.