Women dominate health voucher use as healthcare access expands

– Minister urges more men to seek screening

In 2024, the Health Ministry launched several initiatives to assist citizens in easing the burden of accessing healthcare services through voucher distribution.
These include a $2000 eye-testing voucher, a $15,000 spectacles voucher, an $8000 cervical cancer (HPV) screening voucher, and $10,000 universal health laboratory vouchers for both children and adults.

The programme has been renewed for another year, and some 67 private health facilities are already on board. According to Subject Minister Dr Frank Anthony, the programme can be dubbed a success. Of the 91,000 adult tests conducted, the majority of beneficiaries were women, an imbalance Dr Anthony stated is troubling.
“So, I mentioned earlier about diabetes. First of all, of the people utilising these 91,000 vouchers, 64 per cent of them are women, which means the men hardly come in to seek healthcare… which is a big problem. Of the vouchers, only about 36 per cent were used by men. So that too we want to change because one of the tests included on this voucher allows people to do a PSA.”
One of the main reasons for the imbalance is that prostate cancer remains the number one cancer affecting men, and thus he stressed the importance of early testing and diagnosis.
Dr Anthony further revealed that over the past year, health authorities have been able to diagnose more men at an earlier stage of the disease, allowing them to bring patients into care sooner and begin treatment.
Meanwhile, the Minister noted that over the last two years, 20,000 women underwent cervical cancer screening using the vouchers, but many more are eligible.
“So, we need to reach out to [women as well] and let them get the test. Because, again, if they test positive, we are able to bring them into care. What we noticed is that of the 20,000 women tested, about 19 per cent had positive results. So that’s quite high. If left untreated, over time, these conditions can develop into cervical cancer. So, we want to work with our population to help prevent this. That’s where we want to enlist your help – those of you operating labs and working with this programme.”
On that note, the Health Minister pointed out the vast number of vouchers that the ministry has distributed since the programme was launched.
“Over the two years, we have processed 461,020 vouchers, so that’s a lot of people, right? And I think, as I said, this has been a very, very successful program for us. Over the two years, in terms of eye testing, we conducted 175,272 eye tests. In terms of giving out spectacles, we distributed 160,282 pairs. In terms of the laboratory tests we did for children, we were able to conduct at least 13,112 such tests. For adults, we did 91,501 tests. And in terms of HPV screening over the two years, we conducted 20,853 screenings.”
The Minister remains committed to expanding the services to ensure that more women can access and benefit from cancer screening, noting that the current figure of 20,000 is low.
He indicated that by the end of 2026, the aim is to double that figure.
However, he stressed that achieving this target will require the support and cooperation of stakeholders.
While access to the programme is relatively easier along the coastline – where individuals can present vouchers and receive services – reaching residents in the hinterland regions remains challenging.