We’re suffering – Achimota hospital cries out

Medical superintendent of the Achimota Government Hospital, Dr Mildred B. Kumassah, has bemoaned the increasing high cost of healthcare delivery at the hospital because of the ongoing power crisis.

She said managing health currently at the hospital has become very challenging as a result of the high cost of fuelling its generators coupled with delay in reimbursement of National Health Insurance claims for periods usually spanning five months or more.

Dr Kumassah disclosed that suppliers of medicine and non-medicine consumables have also refused to make further supplies since the hospital has not been able to pay for previous supplies.

She expressed the concern when a newly-built male ward provided by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikoi North, Elizabeth Sackey, was handed over to the hospital’s authorities last Monday.

“We are also facing constant harassment from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company for payment of overdue bills which hitherto was paid by the central government,” she said, stressing that under the current circumstances, patients would have to be made to pay a little token for these services else healthcare delivery at the hospital would grind to a halt.

“Tougher times have come for all of us to recognise that healthcare delivery has become a collective responsibility requiring each and every one of us to be part of these collective actions.”

She has, therefore, called on public-spirited individuals, philanthropists and NGOs to come to the aid of the hospital by donating a generator of capacity of 200kva or more as well as medical equipment, medicines and non-medicine consumables.

The medical superintendent used the opportunity to advise members of the public to be wary of possible outbreak of cholera by eating warm food, drinking potable water and washing their hands before eating and after using the toilet.