Waste collectors form part of the many unsung heroes in our communities. Their contribution though underestimated, but immensely contribute to the protection of the environment and the health of the population.
The nature of work of these waste collectors in our environments poses them to a lot of health hazards. Hence, they often end up spending all the monies they make out of the activity on medical bills.
As such, Recycle-Up Ghana, a sustainable waste management and environmental conservation organization partnered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to renew the NHIS cards and enroll members of the Waste Pickers Network in the Ashanti region on the scheme.
Whiles highlighting the plight of waste pickers in Kumasi, the Executive Director of Recycle-Up Ghana, Abdul Rahim Shaibu Issah said despite the contribution of waste pickers, they have been neglected when it comes to social intervention programs.
“These waste pickers are mostly women and the lowest when it comes to the value chain, so they are often neglected. Meanwhile, they are the first point of contact to get waste out of our communities, which could have been washed into the drains, thereby causing floods and other health challenges to the public”, he bemoaned.
He underscored the need for Recycle-Up Ghana to take up the cost to renew the cards and enroll these waste pickers on the NHIS.
“In our engagements with them they tell us that they face a lot of health challenges and when they fall sick they spend all the monies they make from the venture to pay their medical bills so we decided to come to their aid by renewing the cards of those with expired NHIS Cards and to enroll those without the cards on the scheme. These people contribute to making our communities clean and as unsung heroes we all need to support in our small ways”, he disclosed.
Some members of the Waste Pickers Network shared their health ordeal.
“We trek long distances to pick waste under the sun so at the end of the day we get home very tired with headache. This is where we feed from so we have no option than to spend the little we make on drugs in order to stay healthy since we don’t have the NHIS cards but thank yo Recycle-Up Ghana, I now have an NHIS card which will help subsidize the cost of my medication”, Aunty Georgina said.
Adwoa added saying “because of the waste I pick, I was infected with cholera, and I didn’t have the card too, so I had to go for a loan from a neighbor to treat myself. But today, we have been educated on how to keep ourselves safe and protected from various diseases associated with our work”.
Issah Zakariah/Akoma Fm/3news.com
