A leading Ghanaian cancer organisation, Breast Care International, has appealed for tax and duty waivers on donated medical supplies, warning that port charges are limiting access
The report indicates that a leading Ghanaian cancer organisation, Breast Care International, has appealed for tax and duty waivers on donated medical supplies, warning that port charges are limiting access to millions of dollars’ worth of medicines that could benefit patients across the country.
It further notes that president of Breast Care International and Founder of Peace and Love Hospital, Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai, stated her organisation recently received donated medicines with a wholesale value of about $4.8m, but bringing such supplies into Ghana remains costly because of taxes, duties and handling charges at the ports.
“Items we receive now, the wholesale price is about 4.8 million US dollars. But we didn’t buy. They donated to us,” she said.
“What is left of us is to be given the waiver at the ports, so we can also ask for more.”
According to Dr Wiafe Addai, the organisation receives branded medicines from international partners and redistributes them to hospitals and clinics that need them.
“These are branded medications. They are not generic ones,” she said, adding that, the medications are quite expensive, which the ordinary Ghanaian may not be able to afford.
The medicines are shared with partner health facilities across the country whenever donations arrive.
“When we receive the medications, we also donate them to our partner institutions,” she said.
“Whenever we get these items, we inform them that we have these items. So if your facility can use some, you have to come and pick them.”
For some hospitals, the donations have become an important source of medicines for patients who would otherwise struggle to afford treatment.
A pharmacist at Kokofu General Hospital in the Ashanti region, Fitrught Acheampong, stated many patients attending the rural facility often fail to buy prescribed medicines because of their cost.
“Most of our patients come and then you give them some medications and then because of the price, they actually do not get the drugs,” he said.
“The next time they come, they realise that they’re not even getting better.”
According to her, patients frequently return to the hospital after failing to purchase medicines prescribed for them.
