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Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare (left), Director General, Ghana Health Service, interacting with Dr. Patrice Matchaba, Head of Global Health and Corporate Responsibility, Novartis, and Prof. Kwaku Ohene-Frimpong (right) ), president of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana, after the press conference. Image: BENEDICT OBUOBI
Patients with sickle cell disease in the country can breathe a sigh of relief, as the international drug company, Novartis, has reduced the price of hydroxyurea, one of the drugs considered to be the most effective in treating cancer. disease, in Ghana.
This is part of a pilot program to expand access to more effective drugs for HIV-positive patients, to collect data on the number of people with the disease and to deploy it later in the future. other African countries.
A monthly dose of the drug costs between 150 and 200 GH ¢ on the local market, but with the intervention, the same dosage can be bought at 52 GH ¢.
Hydroxyurea helps to increase hemoglobin levels and reduce the number of attacks in a patient with sickle cell disease.
Ghana is the first country to deploy the drug nationwide, and to date, 5,600 doses have been received in the country, and another 40,000 are expected to arrive in September this year.
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A memorandum of understanding to carry out the pilot project was signed between company and country representatives in Davos, Switzerland, in January of this year.
The Memorandum of Understanding was to create a public-private partnership to set up 16 centers of excellence in all regional hospitals in Ghana for the diagnosis and treatment of the newborn.
The partnership is focused on treatment, diagnosis, research and advocacy. If successful, the program will be extended to 10 other African countries over the next four years.
As part of the pilot program, a doctor, a nurse and a pharmacist from 11 health facilities across the country attended a two-day training course on the use of this drug.
The pilot program is a collaboration between the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Sickle Cell Foundation.
Pilot program
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to announce the pilot program, SGH Executive Director Anthony Nsiah-Asare said the partnership would help establish standard guidelines for the treatment of sickle cell disease.
Under the protocol agreement, he said, doctors, nurses and pharmacists who deal with patients will be trained to manage the centers of excellence that will be created.
He added that the partnership would also contribute to improving the quality of services to achieve universal health coverage.
Dr. Nsiah-Asare said that as part of the pilot project, all newborns would be screened for early treatment of sickle cell patients.
In Ghana, many children died of sickle cell disease, but it was not captured, as their health status was not known.
Novartis
Dr. Patrice Matchaba, Head of Global Health and Corporate Responsibility at Novartis, who also spoke at the press conference, said that once the drug is turned into a national program, the cost could be even higher. reduced, so that more people can access the drugs. he.
He said the success of the pilot program was crucial, as it would have a ripple effect on its deployment in other countries.
Dr. Natchaba hinted that Novartis was working on an easy-to-administer formula for children.
Foundation
Professor Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, president of the Sickle Cell Foundation, said the foundation hoped that the national health insurance plan would cover the use of the drug.
He added that interventions in the treatment of MSC were not beyond the country, with the exception that the disease was not treated in a modern way.
He expressed his disappointment at the fact that, apart from Komfo Anokye University Hospital in Kumasi and Korle Bu University Hospital in Accra, screening for sickle cell disease was not carried out at birth in D & B. Other regions.
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