FISSTULA PATIENTS TO HAVE FREE HEALTH INSURANCE (PAGE 42, JUNE 24, 2010)

Fistula patients in the Upper West Region are to be registered freely with the National Health Insurance Scheme under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme (LEAP).
Patients in districts where LEAP is not operational will be registered among the indigent group.
This came to light during a stakeholders meeting organised by the United Nations Fund for Population Activity (UNFPA) in Wa.
The meeting was attended by health personnel, non-governmental organisations, religious bodies, among others.
Addressing the meeting, the project associate of the UNFPA, Miss Salamatu Futa, noted that obstetric fistula had both medical and social implications.
She said patients were mostly ostracised from society because they smelled of urine and at times faeces which they discharged through the female organ as a result of complications during childbirth.
She, therefore, encouraged pregnant women to take antenatal care seriously to check the position and health of their unborn babies, adding that “no woman should die or suffer a complication in the process of giving birth”.
For his part, a medical practitioner, Dr K. Fofie, said fistula was pervasive in the Upper West Region and that 42 women were awaiting surgery.
He, however, bemoaned the lack of qualified personnel to handle such cases very well.
The Regional Manager of the NHIS, Mr John Boscoe Zury, said the tariff for fistula repairs ranged from GH¢241 to GH¢275 at the district level and GH¢261 to GH¢283 at the regional hospital depending on the seriousness of the case.
Obstetric fistula is a complication arising out of severe and prolonged labour. This situation, according to health experts, arises when there is a hole in the bladder due to complications during severe labour.