The Ministry of Health is to roll out major herbal medicines onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to complement orthodox drugs administration to provide options for patients.

When operational, the government will absorb all expenses for the treatment and payment for such herbal drugs.

Also to be rolled onto the scheme is the treatment of mental health and related drugs.

The Minister of Health, Bernard Okoe-Boye, who announced this in Accra on Wednesday [Sept 18, 2024], at the Ministry of Information's Meet-The-Press series, said not all herbal medicines were dangerous, because some had gone through scientific processes and had been approved for use.

Currently, almost all health facilities have designated units for herbal medicines for the treatment of certain illnesses.

The minister, who touched on a wide range of issues, said already, all kidney patients of 18 years and below, and those who are 60 years and above, were being treated for free.

And those in-between the two age brackets are to receive dialysis treatment twice every month.

Nurses

On the situation of nurses, Dr Okoe-Boye said based on a market labour analysis, the country was producing more nurses than it required.

He said an average of 55,000 plus nurses came out annually, and that the excess were being sent abroad under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The minister said by the end of October this year, a third batch of Ghanaian nurses would leave for Barbados, adding that similar agreements between Ghana and Seychelles, Jamaica, Germany and the UK were also being worked out.

In line with such arrangements, he said the ministry was working towards revising the curriculum of the nursing programmes in the country to reflect internal appeals.

As it stands now, Ghanaian nurses who travel abroad are being made to undertake enhanced courses either for a year or six months to be able to fit into the system.

Dr Okoe-Boye also said that the government would be reviewing its agreements to ensure that some percentage of salaries of the nurses were paid directly into government coffers to train others.

While admitting that remittances from such nurses would help improve the economy, he said it would also shore up the country's forex, adding "under the new arrangement, we have to move with the speed of the world.

Job creation

The minister further said that in all, 21,000 health workers were currently on government’s payroll since 2017.

He said every year, some 3,000 health workers were engaged and were either put on the government payroll or were paid from internally generated funds of health facilities in the country.

The minister said the Agenda 111 hospitals project which were at various stages of completion, would employ some 60,000 health workers when completed.

Dr Okoe-Boye also presented pictorial evidence of completed projects started by the previous government across the country.

They included the Fomena and Kumawu hospitals, which he said were about 35 per cent complete at the time of taking over.

Others, such as Tetteh Quarshie, Atibie, Aburi, and Kyebi hospitals had also received facelift.

He said phase Two of the Bolgatanga Government Hospital was also completed at a cost of $20 million from the Saudi Fund.

Also in progress is the reconstruction of the La General Hospital in Accra, which the minister said would be ready in 36 months.

Others are the Suame Hospital in the Ashanti Region and a new Urology Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.