Deputy Minister orders probe into alleged stealing at Wa Hospital

Wa, March 9, GNA - Mr Bede Ziedeng, Upper West Deputy Minister, on Wednesday directed the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Health to probe alleged stealing of funds at the Wa Hospital and report to the Regional Co-ordinating Council.

Mr Ziedeng was opening a three-day Regional Health Sector Performance Conference at Wa, being attended by 55 members of District Health Management Teams to review their last year's operations.

He commended some of the staff for exposing a syndicate that was stealing internally generated revenue and consequently saving millions of cedis that was about to be lost to the hospital.

He said those who refunded some of the stolen money must not be allowed to go free adding, "they must be punished to serve as a deterrent to others contemplating of doing the same thing".

Mr Ziedeng expressed dissatisfaction with the practice whereby some health institutions use internally generated revenue to pay administrative and travelling claims and neglecting other aspects of health delivery, which necessitated the institution of the "Cash and Carry" system.

Dr Francis Banka, Acting Regional Director of Health Services, said high alcohol consumption has become a major cause of death among men within the 15-45 years age group in the region and called on health workers to educate the people to reverse the trend.

He said the Health sector in the Region raked in revenue of 5.8 billion cedis last year up from the 3.3 billion cedis in 1998. Expenditure also rose from 2.9 billion cedis to 4.2 billion cedis during the same period.

Dr Banka said the average monthly OPD attendance at hospitals and clinics also went up from 14,485 in 1998 to 22,265 in 1999. Shortage of all categories of health workers is hindering the delivery of quality health care in the region.