Thursday, 13th March, 2025
Hon Collins Adomako-Mensah
Afigya Kwabre North
Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Before I make my Statement, let me congratulate Parliament. This morning, Parliament held a forum to mark the World Kidney Day. It brought together experts from the Ghana Kidney Association and other medical experts. Our Deputy Clerk was there to support the programme. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Parliament for bringing the very important topic on kidney to the fore.
Mr Speaker, I thank you once again for this opportunity to deliver a Statement in this House as the world celebrates World Kidney Day today, 13th March, 2025. World Kidney Day is celebrated globally to raise awareness of the importance of kidneys to our overall health, and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney diseases and its associated health problems worldwide on us. The theme for this year’s celebration is, “Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect early, protect kidney health”.
Normally, everyone is born with two kidneys, except in certain situations where people are born with just one. The kidney is a bean-shaped organ located just below the rib cage with one on each side of our spine. The primary function of the kidneys is to remove toxins and waste products from the blood through the formation of urine.
Additionally, the kidneys control blood pressure, activate vitamin D from the sun in the body, regulates water and electrolyte balance, and produces a hormone called erythropoietin which is important in the formation of red blood cells in the body.
The kidneys are extremely essential to our overall health. Any deviation from their functions causes serious problems for the individual. Kidney diseases, especially chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world. More than 10 per cent of the global population are affected by chronic kidney disease. The prevalence rate of CKD in Ghana is about 13 per cent. This means that 13 people out of every 100 Ghanaians we sampled have CKD.
Mr Speaker, the good news is that kidney disease is preventable. Hypertension, which is high blood pressure, and diabetes are the two main causes of chronic kidney disease. These two diseases account for about 70 per cent of all CKD cases in the world (Alexander et al., 2015). Other factors which increase a person’s risk for CKD include obesity, heart diseases, smoking, alcoholism, abuse of certain medications, herbal concoctions, severe dehydration, and some infections such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C. The only treatment options available for people diagnosed of chronic kidney disease are medical management, dialysis and kidney transplant.
Mr Speaker, there are several challenges healthcare professionals and patients face in the management of CKD in Ghana. They include High cost of dialysis. Dialysis is the main treatment option for CKD patients in Ghana. Unfortunately, many of the people who need dialysis to survive cannot afford it, leading to premature death. Majority of such people are young people between the ages of 20 and 50 years. The previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government, under H. E. Nana Akufo-Addo, through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), introduced free dialysis treatment for Ghanaians in about 20 dialysis centres. This is commendable and should be sustained. This programme should be expanded to include all dialysis centres in the 16 regions of the country. Inequitable distribution of dialysis centres
Mr Speaker, nearly half of the 16 regions in Ghana do not have dialysis centres. Even in regions with dialysis centres, majority of them belong to private people and are located in the regional capitals. This situation forces the patients to travel longer distances to access dialysis.
Uncontrolled advertisement and sale of certain herbal concoctions The proliferation and advertisement of herbal concoctions on our mainstream media and social media platforms is of great concern. The use of herbal concoctions is said to account for about 30-35 per cent of all cases of acute kidney failure in Africa (Akpan and Ekrikpo, 2015). High cost of kidney transplant and legislature The expensive nature of kidney transplant in Ghana serves as a hindrance to many who may be willing to have this treatment. The average cost of transplant is about US$25,000.
In addition, the lack of legislation on organ transplant is the reason very few kidney-transplant cases have been done in Ghana. Inadequate number of trained nephrologists and nephrology nurses across the country There needs to be an improvement in the number of nephrologist and nephrology nurses in Ghana. Apart from the teaching hospitals, most of our health facilities do not have specialists to take care of people with chronic kidney disease.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, let me share the following recommendations. The current Government should continue the free dialysis programme the previous Government started. The programme should be expanded to include all patients receiving dialysis, both inpatients and outpatients, in all NHIS accredited centres.
In addition, the NHIA should increase the amount they pay per session because the current GH₵491 per session is not adequate to pay for the consumables as well as maintain the machines. Parliament should facilitate the drafting and passage of a legislation for organ transplantation in Ghana.
This will enable the kidney surgeons to do more transplants in Ghana. There should be a conscious effort to increase the number of dialysis centres and dialysis machines in Ghana. Every regional and district hospital must have a functional dialysis centre with qualified doctors and nurses. This will bring dialysis treatment closer to the patients and save them from the long travels which worsens their plight.
The Food and Drugs Authority should pay attention to the proliferation of herbal concoctions and their advertisement on radio and TV. Government through the Scholarship Secretariat should provide funding for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to train and specialise in kidney care so that we will have qualified specialists to attend to our citizens.
We must take regular medical checkup very seriously. Kidney function check should be added to the list of routine medical checkups we do every year. Finally, health education on the prevention of kidney disease should be intensified especially as the world celebrates World Kidney Day today. Education on simple steps such as drinking enough water, exercise, eating healthy diet, reducing salt intake, controlling blood pressure and diabetes among others will go a long way to save many.
Mr Speaker, all of us are at risk of kidney disease. I therefore call upon the entire House to join the world in celebrating World Kidney Day 2025 and encourage us all to take good care of our kidneys. The theme once again is
“Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect early, protect kidney health.”Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare
Daffiama/Bussie/Issa
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. I commend Hon Collins Adomako-Mensah, for making this Statement on this important day, World Kidney Day with the theme “Are your Kidneys, okay? Detect early, Protect kidney health”.
Mr Speaker, every year, the second Thursday of March is celebrated to create awareness on the need for us to take good care of our kidneys as stated by the maker of the Statement.
Mr Speaker, in Africa and in Ghana, we are more at risk and the disease affects more of the youth between 20 to 50 years, which is the productive age. This means that we have to really work hard to intervene to save our youth as compared to the elderly that are maybe more than 60 years in the developed world.
Mr Speaker, I will just emphasise on one factor and leave for others to contribute. Because all of us are at risk, individually, we should ensure that we check on our health. At least every year one can check his health status and kidney status, once. Once a person celebrates his birthday, he can also check his kidney health. I want to commend Parliament, the staff and the medical director, because this morning they organised, a programme and presentation that brought together the Kidney Association of Ghana, professors and others.
We are grateful to them for being here. This whole week they were checking on the kidney status of Members of Parliament and the staff. What was stressed was that as Parliamentarians, we should ensure that there is legislation that will look at organ transplant in this country which will help us in managing kidney failures for those suffering from chronic kidney failure. So, in conclusion, let us intensify education. Let us check on our kidney status and ensure that we detect problems early so that we can protect the health of our kidneys.
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Michael Baafi Okyere
New Juaben South
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I want to commend the maker of this wonderful Statement for a thorough and well-researched Statement.
Mr Speaker, it will interest you to note that kidney disease is becoming a serious disease in this country, and now, it is also one of the diseases that is becoming so fearful in society. Why am I saying that? A lot of people are being diagnosed of kidney diseases now.
One of the key things that I suspect we are not doing right when we go for checkups is conventionally, we only focus on the normal checkup that we do at the hospitals without focusing so much attention on kidney checkups. Specifically, doing what we call the split kidney functioning test. I do not know, but I stand corrected, whether we have a machine like that in this country, but I would like to encourage as many MPs seated here this afternoon to take interest in split kidney functioning tests, not the normal kidney functioning test.
When we go to the hospital, we do the normal kidney test, which will give us the function in numbers. But there is a need for us to also look out for the split kidney functioning test to know the percentages of our kidneys and how they function, so that we know whether the right kidney is supporting us well or is killing us. That is one of the things that we are not doing over time because our interest now is only about the numbers, the kidney tests, which is not enough. So, we have to also go further by looking at the functioning in percentages, whether the right kidney is giving maybe 30 per cent or 50 percent. This will help one know whether he is developing a kidney problem.
So, Mr Speaker, I want to emphasise that there is a need for us to take our check-ups seriously, especially the kidney function checkups. I also want to reiterate the fact that there is a need for us to have a lot of dialysis centres, but because government does not have enough funds to purchase dialysis machines, most of the medical facilities in the country do not have dialysis machines, but good news is in now. The good news is that there are certain companies that are refurbishing slightly used dialysis machines to also take care of other facilities like referral hospitals in the regions.
I guess there is a need for us to take interest in that. So, I want to push, maybe, for Mr Speaker to direct that the Ministry of Health to take interest in trying to acquire slightly used dialysis machines that can easily be refurbished. This is so that we can take these machines to the small medical centres and even the regional hospitals to also cater for those who have kidney problems.
In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I would like to say without any fear of doubt that there is a need for us to take our kidneys seriously. It is killing a lot of people in this country, especially young men and women. Young men who believe that they cannot function well sexually unless they take concoctions. 5.01 p.m. It has become a convention or a practice in this country where people think—Not people like me, because we are already fit.
We do not need concoctions to perform. But a lot of young people in this country have resorted to the usage of concoctions. These concoctions are killing us and giving us kidney problems. So please, those in the Majority, especially the Second Deputy Majority Whip, the Member of Parliament for Bia East—
Mr Speaker, you have to caution the Second Deputy Majority Whip to stop using concoctions to be able to perform his duties right. On this note, I thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Kofi Arko Nokoe
Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. First of all, I want to commend my Colleague, the Hon Member for a wonderful Statement.
Mr Speaker, the rate at which kidney disease is becoming a problem makes it so scary. But then, we have to look at other factors. This is a country where vegetable cultivation is normally close to sewage areas. It is only in this country that we get to see such things. I have always wondered where we learnt that as a nation from. That where we have gutters and sewage drains, that is where we cultivate vegetables. And that is why mostly when one is eating cabbage, one gets to bite into stones and even the smell of it—So I think, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture must have a way to educate people to understand that it is not right. It is just not right. I can say for a fact that most of these companies in the upstream sector mostly purchase their vegetables from Côte d'Ivoire because of this practice.
Mr Speaker, also, we are in a country where a farmer can just walk into a chemical shop and just buy any pesticide or insecticide, and apply it anyhow. It is so scary. It is just like giving an ammunition to somebody to spray and kill people. So, there is a need for us to sensitise Ghanaians to understand that one cannot just be applying a fertiliser, an insecticide, and a pesticide anyhow. And last but not least, has to do with—To add to what my Colleague said—Herbal products. We have people just mixing stuff and promoting it. We have herbal sellers who can sit on the radio and speak for hours. They speak more than even medical doctors who have been trained for seven years. They come up with concoctions which they advertise to solve all problems without better research and investigations.
Mr Speaker, all these things are contributing factors to the rise of kidney diseases. So, Hon Member, this is a wake-up call to all of us. Because when we watch TV, we see young people full of life—And this is a terminal disease. I have been sponsoring one student from my Constituency who is in a nursing college. She went to the hospital and she was told that she had issues with her kidney. From scratch, she was virtually dying because she knew where she was heading to.
So, Hon Member, this is a wake-up call for all of us because there are a lot of factors which are contributing to this rise in kidney diseases. If we do not, it will be a problem.
Mr Speaker, thank you once again
Hon Fred Kyei Asamoah
Offinso North
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. And let me also thank the maker of the Statement that deals with kidney and its prevention.
Mr Speaker, kidney is an issue that we do not want to joke with. Every single one of us. Because if we do not take care, it would determine how much we can drink and how much we can take in. One of the issues I want to talk about is prevention. Because in the pharmacy setting, one of the miserable patients that we see when we are taking care of people are kidney patients. Because sometimes, they will come and we see that their veins are protruded and they are so miserable.
There are a number of drugs they have to take within a day to survive. And even when it gets to transplant, the number of drugs they need to take in order to prevent rejection of organ is serious. So, one would want to focus on prevention, prevention, prevention. And one can only prevent if one can have good education for kidney issues. Why? Because we know alcohol can cause kidney issues. We know exercise can cause kidney issues. And we know drugs can also lead to kidney diseases. Hon Speaker, we are in a country that Mr Speaker, we have notable drugs like what we call non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), typical among them are ibuprofen, and diclofenac. People can just walk into any pharmacy and buy them.
And we are in a country that is not paying much attention to the work of pharmacists. We have a lot of pharmacies that have been trained, but we are not employing them. So, any person can walk into a pharmacy, buy any drug, and take them, not paying attention to the side effects. We have a lot of people buying antibiotics anytime. But a lot of antibiotics can also lead to kidney disease. We have a lot of our young ones abusing opioids.
Typical among them is the one that we talked about in this House that is coming on our markets; whether licenced or unlicensed. We have our young ones patronising them without any caution. These are things that are leading to kidney disease that we are not paying attention to. But it does happen anyway. When it happens, what are we doing as a country to make sure we take care of those who have kidney disease?
Mr Speaker, per the Abuja Declaration—And we will keep repeating it in this hallowed Chamber—We are supposed to allocate 15 per cent of our national Budget towards health because we need to have enough centres. The proposer of the Statement talked about regional centres. Mr Speaker, I will go further to district centres because we need to bring healthcare closer to the people so that people can have access to treatment.
Mr Speaker, in Ghana, if one is looking at our statistics, it is about 0.44 per million as far as nephrologists are concerned, as compared to the international average of 1.6 for lowincome countries. So, if Ghana is 0.44 per cent, that is woefully inadequate. That means we have to spend enough resources to train as many as we can to support the healthcare system so that we can take care of our kidney patients.
In conclusion, I want to add that we need to expand infrastructure, and in expanding infrastructure, Mr Speaker, we have to support the local pharmaceutical industry to start producing dialysis fluids within our country because we are importing them, but if we can start producing dialysis fluids within our country, it can reduce the cost, and it can make it available for treatment. Not only that, there are different types of dialysis. We have what we call the peritoneal dialysis and the hemodialysis or the machine-based dialysis. It is very expensive, but we, as a country, can invest so much in the peritoneal dialysis, so we can make it available to kidney patients.
In conclusion, Mr Speaker, we have loved ones who have passed on due to kidney disease. It can happen to you; it can happen to me. So, I am asking that this hollow Chamber make it one of our main objectives to allocate enough funds to support kidney treatment and its prevention in the country. Thank you.
Hon Mark Kurt Nawaane
Nabdam
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
I want to thank the maker of the Statement. The Statement is very timely, and the theme for this year as stated is “Are your Kidneys Ok? Detect early, protect kidney health”.
Mr Speaker, if you look at the prevalence in Ghana as compared to the global population, the global population stands at 10 per cent, and that of Ghana is 13 per cent. That means that we have more kidney situations more than the global population, and that is not a good thing for Ghana. So we need to understand what to do and the predisposing factors such as smoking, alcoholism, certain medications, not only herbal medications, but even self-medication, diabetes, hypertension, et cetera; they are all predisposing factors, so if we manage the sicknesses well, we should be able to reduce the incidence of chronic kidney disease. Recently there have been some controversy over the funding of the dialysis.
I must say that, for those of us who have been here for some time, we know that the funding for dialysis has been chaotic, erratic, and—When I say this, I mean that when those who provide services say they need some money, the Government just tries to look around. There was one time they paid GH₵4 million, and they started working again, and after some time, they stopped again, so they had to look for money somewhere else. They later tried to say that they have added the treatment of chronic renal disease to the NHIS.
Mr Speaker, let me ask all of us. When we go to the hospital, do we pay something? My good Friend sitting to my right, does he pay something when he goes to the hospital? What about those to the left? Does he pay something when he goes to the hospital? That tells us that the National Health Insurance (NHI) Fund is not enough, and if we continue to make those statements of adding to the National Health Insurance Scheme without looking for extra resources, we are only deceiving ourselves.
That is why President Mahama has established the Medical Care Trust Fund to bring in extra resources for a noncommunicable disease. That fund, also known as MahamaCares, is extra resources. It would be enough because it would bring in extra income, and it is being budgeted for, apart from the NHIA. The NHIA has become a panacea for everything, and we just keep adding to the National Health Insurance Scheme. When one goes to the hospital, they pay, and that tells one that NHI Funds are simply not enough for the current medical care.
So, let us understand that issue and let us thank H. E. President John Dramani Mahama for thinking out of the box, and setting up this fund. That is not only going to help patients with kidney disease, but patients who would need operations such as cardiac operations, diabetes, hypertension, and other sicknesses, and I believe that that would be the solution to this problem of dialysis. So, let us not deceive ourselves that we can just add anything to NHIS without adding any resources to it. Thank you.
Hon Titus Kofi Beyuo
Lambussie
Mr Speaker, I would like to contribute. It will take less than five minutes, I beg you. You asked me to sit down earlier.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement. Let me commend the maker of the Statement for bringing such an important discussion to this House and bringing it into national focus.
Mr Speaker, the prevalence of chronic kidney diseases in this country, as mentioned earlier by the Chairman of the Committee on Health, is higher than the global average. And I am going to call for intensive research for us to identify why we have such a high prevalence compared to other countries. Diabetes and hypertension are playing a significant role, but we cannot forget that the poisoning of our waters, food, fish, yam, from the galamsey activities with heavy metals may play a role. So this should be a wake-up call for all of us.
Mr Speaker, the emphasis on kidney day should really be prevention and early detection, because in our part of the world, a diagnosis with endstage kidney failure is almost a death sentence.
And when it comes to prevention, Mr Speaker, I think we in this House must set an example. I have been in the House for a little over two months, and I see that our very arrangements do not permit Members to take in adequate water. We sit here for five hours, sometimes more. We do not have any means of bringing in water here because it is not permitted. There are no water dispensers around for people to drink in between the time that we sit here. So I will call on the House Committee and Leadership of the House to consider making it easy for Members of Parliament to be able to take enough water while in the Chamber.
Mr Speaker, I want to also on this occasion, commend the good hope that His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has brought by the introduction of the MahamaCares. That is a Ghana Medical Care Trust fund. As though it was coincidence, yesterday, the task force was launched, and this task force is charged with operationalising the fund; the fund that is going to make sure that we can support noncommunicable diseases, including the kidney diseases. But the emphasis really should be on prevention rather than treatment. So, I commend His Excellency and commend the Minister for Health. Thank you very much.
Hon Theresa Lardi Awuni
Okaikwei North
Thank you very much, Hon Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement made by my very good Brother, Adomako-Mensah Collins.
Indeed, today is International Kidney Awareness Day, and the question here is, are your kidneys okay? Members of Parliament, are your kidneys okay? How often do we go and check? Parliamentary staff, are your kidneys okay? How often do we make time to go and check? I think that we must begin to prioritise some of these things.
Mr Speaker, our lifestyle has contributed mostly to kidney diseases in this country. Intake of excessive alcohol, some unprescribed medications. People just walk into our pharmacies and purchase medicines on reasons that sometimes we do not understand. And our pharmaceutical services are also giving out medication without requesting a prescription from doctors. I think they will do us a lot of good, because the young generation now, when one watches them on the social media, Mr Speaker, it is very disturbing.
We need to ask ourselves, what generation are we bringing up? What education are we giving out to our people? I would like to urge Members of Parliament to take time off our busy schedules to engage in sensitisation exercises in our various communities. For instance, I had one recently in my community. I have a place called Vegas in Okaikwei North. Yes, and there are a lot of things that happen around there. They are human beings. They are kids who have left their homes to just relocate, and they need guidance. We cannot only go to them when we need their votes. We need to also mentor them. We need to also be a source of inspiration to them. We need to guide them to stay away from some of these things that will create problems.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to thank His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for his foresight. His 24-hour Economy vision is bringing about the MahamaCares that will support dialysis and people who cannot afford it.
Mr Speaker, I would like to urge Members to stay hydrated, eat balanced diets, exercise regularly and manage stress, especially Members of Parliament. We know the kind of stress that we go through in our various constituencies, but it is my prayer that we manage the stress, get regular check-ups, and also check on our diabetic status and also our hypertensive status. It is very important because sicknesses do not just happen. It starts from a point, and I believe that with regular check-ups, we will be able to have early detection and get early treatment.
Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.
Hon Jerry Ahmed Shaib
Weija-Gbawe
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for this opportunity.
Today being World Kidney Day, I want to take this opportunity to thank, most importantly, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo— Mr Speaker, for his vision.
Mr Speaker, I have acted as Board Chair of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and I stand here on authority to let you know that but for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we would not have a urology and nephrology centre in Korle But Mr Speaker, as we speak, people do not travel to India and London to go and have treatment for all manner of diseases, especially dialysis treatment.
Mr Speaker, we have a 31-bed station, new, fresh and ultra-modern. Just in October last year, the urology and nephrology centre was commissioned. So if one is a man and is in this Parliament and is intending to go and have a kidney transplant, or one is going to have dialysis treatment, they should not waste their time and money to go and look for euros, Pounds and dollars, walk to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Mr Speaker, they will have the best of care; kind courtesy, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ᴐyadea oye. Besides all of this, what we have not also considered is the contribution that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo got National Health Insurance Authority to take care of. Anybody suffering from kidney issues and having dialysis treatment was given free dialysis care. And as of last year, GH₵200 million—
Mr Speaker, and that is the problem with my Friends here. They never want to hear anything correct. Mr Speaker, last year, NHIA had to disburse GH₵200 million just for free dialysis treatment—[Uproar]—If Hon Members are here and are indicating,—and I can show Hon Members— Mr Speaker, it is very important for each and every one of us to understand that.
Mr Speaker, it is important for each and every one of us here to know that if we want to challenge the figures, we can do so properly but do so with a genuine heart. I have come here to tell Hon Members, that I was once an Acting Board Chairman of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and I know what I am saying.
Mr Speaker, beside all of this, I need to advise all of us that the ABC of kidney prevention, as in having issues with dialysis, is also well spelt out. Most of my Colleagues have said so already. Let me just rehash that we need to get tested for kidney disease, we need to monitor our blood pressure, we need to exercise regularly, we need to monitor blood sugar and do all the things that matter. Do not buy medicine over-the-counter without prescription
Mr Speaker, with this, I want to say thank you very much and thank you very much to Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.
Hon Charles Akwasi Agbeve
Agotime-Ziope
Mr Speaker, thank you very much, and I want to tell Mr Jerry—Mr Jerry, he should listen to the, real figures.
Mr Speaker, first I want to commend Mr Adomako for that wonderful Statement, well-researched and documented. In fact, his figures are apt but I want to tell the House today, that His Excellency John Dramani Mahamah’s Budget—[Uproar]— ably read by the Minister for Finance quoted GH₵9.93 billion not million, included in what he is supposed to do is to take care of what? MahamaCares. It is supposed to take care of the chronic diseases; dialysis, cancers and so on and so forth.
Mr Speaker, Mr Shaib said they have built a new Nephrology Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital today. Annual cost is between GH₵62,400 to GH₵148,200, that is the annual cost of dialysis for a year. Yes. These are figures from Korle Bu.
Mr Speaker, it is for this reason most families can never afford this. His Excellency saw that vision and yesterday the Minister for Health inaugurated
To initiate Ghana Medical Cares. Mr Speaker, in conclusion, we need to talk about the role of the private sector. A company called First Sky has been paying for those suffering from chronic diseases in Korle Bu. Last year, they spent GH₵50 million and for the past eight years, they have been doing—This is why the Government of the day is partnering these institutions to make funds available to the families suffering.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity.
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