Bawumia Aide exposes Health Minister’s ‘dishonesty’ on Sickle Cell coverage under NHIA

A Deputy Spokesperson for the Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Campaign, Dr. Ekua Amoakoh, has challenged claims by the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has only now incorporated treatment for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).

Mr. Akandoh, addressing the Africa CDC High-Level Side Event on Sickle Cell Disease in New York on Thursday, September 25, 2025, announced that the inclusion of SCD care under the scheme marked a bold demonstration of health equity. He said the new policy guarantees every Ghanaian living with the condition, regardless of income or location, equal access to lifesaving medication.

“This demonstrates equity in action: ensuring that the poorest mother in the most remote part of our country can access the same lifesaving medication as the wealthiest in our cities,” the Minister asserted, adding that the move was central to Ghana’s push for Universal Health Coverage.

*Exposed*

In a response, a statement shared on her Facebook page on *Friday, September 26, 2025,* Dr. Amoakoh described the Minister’s remarks as misleading and an attempt to build his reputation by rebranding projects and policies inherited from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

Dr. Amoakoh said the minister “started his term of office with disingenuity and it seems he wants to continue on that tangent.” She alleged that instead of pursuing new initiatives, the minister has resorted to what she described as propaganda, using completed NPP projects to create a false impression of progress.

She cited the recent tour of completed Agenda 111 facilities as one such example. According to her, the minister chose to highlight unfinished sections of the project rather than acknowledge the functioning facilities. “First, he went on a tour of the three completed Agenda 111 projects, passed by the completely set up consulting and operating rooms, and showed the mortuary that was still under construction for propaganda. Let’s ask ourselves, what facility begins operations from the mortuary?”, Dr. Amoakoh wrote.

*First vaccine institute*

Touching on Ghana’s first vaccine institute, Dr. Amoakoh dismissed the minister’s claim of it being a novelty. She argued that the institute was already a flagship NPP project, established before the party left office, and had even reached advanced stages of accreditation by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Then he moved to Ghana’s first vaccine institute, sheepishly trying to sell it as a novel idea when it had been set up under the NPP administration, even reaching the point of accreditation from the World Health Organization to produce vaccines before the NPP left office,” she stated.

*Credit NPP*

Dr. Amoakoh further accused the minister of seeking international credit for reforms within the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), which she stressed were spearheaded by the former Vice President Bawumia. These reforms, she explained, included digitisation of the renewal and claims processes and an expansion of NHIA coverage to critical areas that had previously burdened families.

She pointed out two significant reforms under Dr. Bawumia: the inclusion of Hydroxyurea, a drug vital for managing sickle cell disease, and coverage for four childhood cancers — Burkitt’s lymphoma, Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and Wilms’ tumour among them.

According to Dr. Amoakoh, the NHIA, under former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s leadership on health financing reforms, had already expanded coverage to include Hydroxyurea, an essential medication for Sickle Cell management.

She stressed that giving credit where it is due matters, noting that the pioneering role of Dr. Bawumia and the NPP in making sickle cell medication accessible under NHIA must not be erased for political convenience.

“My best friend, a hematologist, called one day last year commending the NPP administration for bringing some relief to these children and their parents, admitting how the coverage had improved their numbers at the unit because more parents sought medical care instead of relying on arbitrary alternatives,” Dr. Amoakoh revealed.

To buttress her claims, she attached a page from the NHIA’s allocation document in 2023, underscoring that the groundwork for these health interventions had been laid long before the current administration assumed office.

Dr. Amoakoh further posed a question about the minister’s performance: “Is the current MOH so lost as to how to improve healthcare that he only relies on loudly rebranding policies he inherited? Where is the growth?”

*The Evidence*

The page from NHIA’s allocation document in 2023 – Explanatory notes expenditure

1.0 Claims – 2023
A total amount of GH¢ 1,726.03 million is allocated for the payment of claims of health service providers for 2023, for a projected active membership base of 19,246,580 million. The budgeted amount has factored in expected medical inflation, 30.17% increase in tariffs, and the expansion of the benefit package to absorb four out of the six index childhood cancers (Burkitt, Lymphoma, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, and Wilms Tumour), hydroxyurea for managing sickle cell disease, and the nationwide rollout of family planning. This expenditure shall be funded from earmarked allocation from premium subsidy (exempt category GH¢ 219.57 ), claims subsidy (GH¢ 1,379.59 ) and premium contributions from the informal sector (GH¢ 126.87 ) in 2023.

1.1 Premium Subsidy
This represents subsidy payable by Government on behalf of the 12.67 million members of the exempt category of the NHIS. The total expected subsidy for 2023 is GH¢219.57 million. Details are as follows;

Indigents

Ghana’s estimated population for 2023 is about 32.08 million. The indigent population for 2023 is estimated at 2,156,770. It is estimated that 74% of indigents (i.e. 1,597,645 indigents) shall be covered under the scheme in 2023. An amount of GH¢18.00 is allocated as premium for each indigent and hence, a total amount of GH¢ 28.76 million will be required as premium subsidy for the indigents in 2023.

Children under 18 years
The law prescribes that those under 18 years be catered for by government. The active membership of children under 18 years is estimated at 7,670,489 million in 2023. A provision of GH¢ 138.07 million has therefore been made to cover for the premium of this exempt group.

SSNIT Pensioners
The number of SSNIT pensioners is estimated at 1,311,993 in 2023. It is estimated that 54% of this number (i.e. 704,122) will be covered under the scheme in 2023. An amount of GH¢ 2.00 million is allocated to cover the premium of SSNIT pensioners in 2023.