Hydroxyurea Treatment For Sickle Cell To Be Placed Under NHIS – Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has announced government’s decision to place
hydroxyurea treatment for sickle cell anemia under the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS).
The announcement was made on the Vice President’s Facebook timeline.
“As the world marked Sickle Cell Awareness Day on 19th June, I am pleased to announce that at
a meeting I chaired on June 8, 2021, with stakeholders including Professor Ohene Frimpong,
President of the Sickle Cell Foundation, the Minister of Health, the National Health Insurance
Authority and NOVARTIS, it was agreed that hydroxyurea, a modifying therapy for sickle cell will
now be provided under the NHIS to improve the physical health of people living with it,” he
wrote.
A vintage Dr. Bawumia did not neglect to get the needed political points from the
announcement, remindinf that President Akufo-Addo had promised to place the treatment
under the NHIS during the 2020 election campaigns and that the decision, even though yet to
be implemented, is a promise kept.
Hydroxyurea is a treatment that makes the red blood cells bigger. It helps them stay rounder
and more flexible — and makes them less likely to turn into a sickle shape.
The medicine does this by increasing a special kind of hemoglobin called hemoglobin F.
Hemoglobin F is also called fetal hemoglobin because newborn babies have it.