Assessment of availability, accessibility, and affordability of magnetic resonance imaging services in Ghana

Piersson, Albert Dayor; Gorleku, Philip Narteh

doi:10.1016/j.radi.2017.06.002

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“… 60 A high proportion of citizens did not have access to an MRI scanner. 61 Also, long waiting time in the hospitals was a disincentive for people to subscribe to the scheme. 36 Quality improvement measures should be instituted to improve the quality of services provided to the clients, especially in the private healthcare facilities.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Donors should take the long-term sustainability of the project into account whilst giving start up grants 45. Piersson & Gorleku, 2017 61 To appraise the availability, accessibility, and affordability of magnetic resonance imaging services to patients in Ghana Descriptive cross-sectional study 13 MRI suites in tertiary hospitals, private hospitals, and private diagnostic centers High proportion of citizens do not have access to MRI scanner. Unlike private insurance subscribers, public insurance subscribers cannot benefit from MRI services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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<p>Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana: Lessons for South Africa and Low- and Middle-Income Countries</p>

Christmals¹,

Aidam²

2020

RMHP

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Background: South Africa is having difficulties in rolling out the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy. There are ongoing arguments on whether the NHI will provide access to quality and equitable healthcare it is intended to and whether South Africa is ready to implement the policy. Many stakeholders believe the country needs more preparation if the policy will be successful. Ghana, on the other hand, has successfully implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) for over 15 years. Objective: This paper sought to explore the implementation of the NHIS in Ghana and the lessons South Africa and other low-and middle-income countries can learn from such a process. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Brigs Institute's System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information (SUMARI) and Mendeley reference manager to manage the review process. Journal articles published on the NHIS in Ghana from January 2003 to December 2018 were searched from Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and Medline using the keywords: Ghana, Health, and Insurance. Results: The implementation of the NHIS has provided access to healthcare for the Ghanaian population, especially to poor and vulnerable. Despite the successful implementation of the NHIS in Ghana, the scheme is challenged with poor coverage; poor quality of care; corruption and ineffective governance; poor stakeholder participation; lack of clarity on concepts in the policy; intense political influence; and poor financing. Conclusion: The marked inequity in the South African health system makes the implementation of the NHI inevitable. The challenges experienced in the implementation of the NHIS in Ghana are not new to the South African healthcare system. South Africa must learn from the experiences of Ghana,a context that shares common socio-cultural and economic factors and disease burden,in order to successfully implement the NHI.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana: Lessons for South Africa and Low- and Middle-Income Countries</p>

Christmals¹,

Aidam²

2020

RMHP

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“…given that there is national coverage of x-ray units, but just 12 MRI 47 and 35 CT scanners. 43 Two thirds of the scanners are located in the capital city Accra, with half the regions having no MRI facilities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…43 Two thirds of the scanners are located in the capital city Accra, with half the regions having no MRI facilities. 43,47 All regions that do have these modalities have resident radiologists who ensure that all scans are reported on, even at some delay. Consequently, population health benefit is most likely to be realised from concentrating initial role extension efforts on the reporting of projection radiographs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities for radiographer reporting in Ghana and the potential for improved patient care

2020

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“…Ghana is a developing country challenged by the availability of neuroimaging services. It is important to note that the availability and affordability of neuroimaging, especially MRI, is a challenge for most patients in Ghana [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. The most predominant neuroimaging modality is computed tomography.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The degree and appropriateness of computed tomography utilization for diagnosis of headaches in Ghana

Gorleku

Dzefi-Tettey

Edzie

et al. 2021

Heliyon

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Introduction Headache is a common and sometimes debilitating medical condition. Patients presenting with no neurologic anomaly, nontraumatic primary headache require careful evaluation before neuroimaging. National Guidelines standardizing exploitation of Computed Tomography (CT), the most utilized imaging modality in this clinical scenario, has not been established in Ghana, a developing country with limited healthcare resources. The country has not also adopted existing guidelines such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) of the United Kingdom or the Appropriateness Criteria (AC) of the American College of Radiologists (ACR). The purpose of this review was to analyze the propensity of CT utilization for diagnosing headaches against the AC of the ACR and discuss some of the socio-economic inferences thereof. Methods This study retrospectively reviewed CT imaging records and clinical data of all patients referred for head CT scans between 1 st January 2016 and 31 st December 2018 at five major health facilities (four tertiary government hospitals and one private hospital) across Ghana. We isolated all head CT scans performed for the diagnosis of headache for analysis. We analyzed the type of presenting headache, CT findings, gender distribution, pattern of referrals, and head CT appropriateness against the AC of the ACR. Results A total of 44,218 patients were referred to the five facilities for head CT secondary to diverse indications for the period. All non-trauma cases were 41.7%; trauma cases were 31.6%, the majority (72.3%) were from road traffic accidents. The majority (64.9%) of trauma casualties were males. A total of 11,806 (26.7%) patients were referred for a head CT scan for the diagnosis of headache. The private hospital recorded the highest referrals for head CT scan for diagnosis of headache. The gender distribution of all headache patients was 57.6% females, and 42.4% were males. The age distribution showed 19.3% were children, 71.2% were adults, and the aged constituted 9.4%. The results showed 2.8% significant cranial CT findings of all reviewed headache patients. Pathological findings among the cohort of children were 0.6%. The sources and pattern of referrals showed 57.3% were from the Outpatient Department, 26.6% from the Emergency Department, in-patients’ referrals were 9.4%, and specialist consultation was 7.1%. Analysis of CT scans performed against the AC of the ACR, showed 69.0% of headache patients were likely scanned inappropriately. Conclusions There is a need to implement international best practice guidelines or develop a national neuroimaging policy to protect patients. Unjustified CT utilization for diagnosis of headaches exposes patients to unnecessary ionizing radiation that can instigate cancer and unnecessary expenditure. Head CT scan for some headache patients with normal neurologi...

show abstract

Assessment of availability, accessibility, and affordability of magnetic resonance imaging services in Ghana

Cited by 12 publications

References 1 publication

<p>Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana: Lessons for South Africa and Low- and Middle-Income Countries</p>

<p>Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana: Lessons for South Africa and Low- and Middle-Income Countries</p>

Opportunities for radiographer reporting in Ghana and the potential for improved patient care

The degree and appropriateness of computed tomography utilization for diagnosis of headaches in Ghana

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