News
Families ignore cleft treatment due to non-medical expenses -Research
A study by the National Cleft Care Centre (NCCC) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has revealed that the headache of parents of children born with cleft lip and palate in Ghana is not about the cost of surgery.
What actually put these families in difficult situations are the non-medical expenses that come in the form of transportation, feeding and temporary accommodation while seeking comprehensive care for such children after surgery.
According to the study, these families spend at least 25 per cent of their annual income on the non-medical expenses required to ensure a comprehensive post- surgery care.
Consequently, the Director of NCCC, Prof. Solomon Obiri-Yeboah, has underscored the need for a comprehensive cleft management which requires a multidisciplinary approach, integrating plastic surgery, dental care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial counseling.
Additionally, he has urged the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to absorb surgical costs so that donor resources can be redirected toward travel and welfare support.
Marking this year’s cleft awareness campaign, Prof. Obiri-Yeboah stated that the core surgical procedure alone costs a minimum of GH₵5,000.
According to the research, that burden has forced many families to miss or abandon the multiple hospital visits required for successful treatment, putting children at risk of complications that could otherwise be prevented.
It explained that although corrective surgeries were offered free through support from international partners, the cost of travelling repeatedly to specialist centres, feeding and accommodation remains beyond the reach of these families.
The research cautioned that until these financial barriers were addressed, more children would continue to shun essential reviews and follow-up care, undermining the success of treatment.
Health professionals have argued that cleft care inclusion on the NHIS would not only reduce the financial burden on families but also improve treatment outcomes and advance Ghana’s commitment to achieving universal health coverage.
Dr Robert Larmie, a Maxillofacial Surgeon at the NCCC, warned that failing to provide financial relief leaves children vulnerable to harmful myths.
“If these mothers cannot afford the journey for care, children are pushed back into misconceptions.
To expand treatment capacity, Smile Train has collaborated with KATH and the Ghana Cleft Foundation to build over $2-million, six-storey National Cleft Care Centre at KATH.
The facility has an outpatient department, consulting rooms, four specialised operating theaters, pre- and post-operative wards, clinical laboratories, lecture halls, a library, and research units.
Prof. Peter Donkor, President of the Ghana Cleft Foundation and First Vice-President of the West African College of Surgeons, noted that the centre provides free treatment regardless of a patient’s age.
Cleft lip and palate occur during pregnancy when a baby’s lip or the roof of the mouth fails to fuse properly. The condition may range from a small notch in the lip to a wide opening extending into the nose.
Without timely treatment, affected children often experience serious challenges with feeding, breathing, hearing and speech development, while many also endure social stigma and discrimination.
Globally, one in every 700 babies is born with a cleft, leaving an estimated 4.6 million people living with untreated or inadequately treated conditions, particularly in low and middle income countries.
In Ghana, about one in every 770 babies is born with a cleft, resulting in more than 400 new cases each year, in addition to a backlog of children still awaiting treatment.
By Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the government to place all 54,985 candidates affected by the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement exercise in schools and publish the final outcome.
The party says the government must ensure that the affected candidates secure actual school places rather than merely being allowed to access the self-placement portal.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party expressed concern about the situation facing the candidates.
The NPP said the government had announced that 53,887 of the affected candidates could use the self-placement system after initially being told that they had not qualified for secondary school.
It, however, argued that access to the portal did not guarantee that candidates would secure their preferred schools or programmes.
“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” the statement noted.
The party said the government’s own figures showed that the country had 859,828 declared vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.
It explained that the main challenge was the concentration of demand in a small number of highly subscribed schools.
The NPP noted that 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while those schools had 76,417 declared vacancies.
It therefore called on the government to explore ways to improve schools with available spaces, including providing teachers, laboratories and better programmes.
The party urged the government to use the 85 private schools participating in the Free SHS programme to absorb candidates who remained without placements.
The NPP further called for clarification of the rule and pass mark used for this year’s placement exercise, saying parents were entitled to know the standard before their children sat the examination.
It urged the government to take urgent action to ensure that the affected candidates were not left behind in the transition to secondary education.
By: Jacob Aggrey
A total of 527,932 candidates have been successfully placed in Senior High Schools (SHSs), Senior High Technical Schools (SHTSs), and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The figure represents approximately 87.3 per cent of the 604,567 candidates who qualified for placement after the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The Deputy Minister for Education, in a press statement on the 2026 Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) results, announced that the placemepnt results were released at 10:00 p.m. on September 4, 2026.
Of the candidates placed, 276,521 are females and 251,411 are males.
A total of 623,072 candidates sat for this year’s BECE, representing an increase of 19,744 over the 603,328 candidates who wrote the examination last year.
The Deputy Minister explained that although the system had 859,828 declared vacancies, many candidates concentrated their first-choice selections on highly subscribed Category A schools.
According to the statement, 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, compared with 176,614 for Category B schools, 123,577 for Category C schools, and 995 for participating private SHSs and SHTSs.
However, Category A schools had 76,417 declared vacancies, while Category B and Category C schools had 250,366 and 468,652 vacancies respectively.
He explained that the figures showed that the main challenge was not a lack of spaces in the secondary education system, but a mismatch between the schools candidates preferred and where vacancies were available.
“While 313,283 candidates expressed a first preference for Category A schools, the declared vacancies in those schools stood at 76,417,” the statement noted.
The Deputy Minister also announced that 57,259 candidates had not met the requirements for automatic placement.
The figure includes 3,372 candidates who did not sit for the examination, 35,382 who obtained a score of 9 in either English Language or Mathematics, and 18,505 who obtained a score of 9 in both subjects.
He said candidates who obtained a score of 9 in either English Language or Mathematics, or in both subjects, would be allowed to use the self-placement system to select schools and programmes with available vacancies.
However, the 3,372 candidates whose results are unavailable will not be placed at this stage. They will be given a second opportunity to resit the examination before progressing along the appropriate educational pathway.
The Deputy Minister urged affected candidates and their parents not to lose hope, but to take advantage of the self-placement opportunity and consider the full range of available schools and programmes.
He also encouraged parents and guardians to guide their children in making choices based on available vacancies, programmes offered, location, and their educational needs.
For the 2026/2027 academic year, 85 private Senior High Schools are participating in the Free SHS programme.
The statement indicated that the participation of the private schools would provide additional options for candidates and help reduce pressure on highly subscribed public schools.
Candidates undertaking self-placement have therefore been encouraged to consider participating private SHSs alongside available public SHSs, SHTSs, and TVET institutions.
The Deputy Minister further announced that placement resolution centres had been established at the regional and national levels to assist candidates and parents with genuine placement challenges.
Parents and candidates have been advised to first seek assistance from the Ghana Education Service (GES) or Ghana TVET Service offices at the regional level.
For cases requiring national-level intervention, the GNAT Hall in Accra has been designated as the National Placement Resolution Centre.
He said technical teams had been deployed to assist candidates, parents, and guardians and address genuine placement challenges as efficiently as possible.
The Deputy Minister also announced that the CSSPS had been upgraded to include an admission portal, allowing parents and guardians to enrol their children and download admission forms without travelling to schools.
He cautioned heads of schools against admitting or enrolling students outside the placement system, warning that violators would face appropriate sanctions.
He explained that such admissions could create data discrepancies and disbursement challenges for schools.
The Deputy Minister stressed that school placement was free and warned parents, guardians, and candidates not to pay money to anyone who promised to secure or change a placement.
“There is no legitimate protocol placement that requires the payment of money,” he stated.
He urged anyone who demanded money in exchange for a placement to report the matter to the Ghana Police Service or the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Parents and candidates were also advised to protect their placement credentials and avoid giving them to unauthorised persons.
The Deputy Minister congratulated all candidates who participated in the 2026 BECE and urged parents and guardians to support their children in making realistic school choices.
He said the government would continue to invest in infrastructure, teachers, teaching and learning resources, school leadership, and educational outcomes across the secondary education system.
He added that the ultimate objective was to build a system in which every school became a school of choice, every learner had a pathway to progress, and no Ghanaian child was denied the opportunity to develop their potential.
By: Jacob Aggrey
