NHIS should absorb bills of 'rape and defilement victims' – Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has reaffirmed his plea for raped and defiled victims' medical expenditures to be covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme.
According to him, we already have a well-functioning program in the form of the National Health Insurance Scheme, thus a new fund is unnecessary.
Furthermore, he stated that such a step would allow victims and their relatives to submit such situations to the police for timely action.
"Fortunately for us as a country, we have a National Health Insurance Scheme that is well operationalized, can't we just make this one of the items that health insurance should take care of?" the MP said at a stakeholder's engagement organized by Plan International Ghana to deliberate on how medical examination bills for sexual and gender-based violence survivors can be abolished.
Another alternative, according to the MP, is to look into another existing fund, the district assembly common fund, to cover medical expenditures for raped and defiled victims.
In Ghana, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence are forced to pay between Ghc 300 and Ghc 1,500 for a medical examination and treatment consultation in order to fill out police medical documents and seek justice and have their attackers prosecuted.
Despite the fact that section 8 of the Domestic Abuse Act of 2007 (Act 732) stipulates that "a domestic violence victim who is aided by the police in obtaining medical treatment under subsection (1) (c) is entitled to free medical treatment from the state," SGBV survivors are routinely charged by health facilities whenever they seek a medical report in order to pursue justice.
However, the relatives of the victims, who are largely from rural areas, are unable to pay, making access to justice impossible. As a result, these culprits are openly endangering the lives of young people in the neighborhood, particularly women and children.
Plan International Ghana thinks that the widespread absence of medical reports in situations of sexual and gender-based violence, notably rape and defilement, is linked to survivors' inability to pay the costs levied.
Plan International Ghana's Country Director, Solomon Tesfa Mariam, stated that the organization will remain devoted to Ghanaians and will collaborate with other appropriate institutions to address any issues of injustice impacting girls, boys, women, and men.
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