Exposed: Massive fraud at Korle-Bu

Joy News investigations have uncovered massive corruption at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

After months of investigation, we found out some accountants at the hospital take bribes from patients, reduce their bills significantly and divert the money into their private pockets.

Manasseh Azure Awuni reports:

The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital is replete with problems of this nature. In the maternity ward, some women spend their labour period in wheel chairs. And at the emergency unit, I saw a patient being resuscitated in a plastic chair.

The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital does not run a charity. It charges patients for the services it renders? So where does the money go? My investigations reveal some of the money are being stolen by some accountants.

Cyrus Zoore’s mother was admitted at Korle-Bu for almost one month. Cyrus, a building contractor, only got to know her mother’s condition was not covered by the national health insurance after she was discharged.

But the account officers at the Surgical Department said they could help him when he mentioned that the bill was very high.

Cyrus was supposed to pay about 1, 500 Ghana cedis to Korle-Bu. But the accounts officers slashed the bill by half so he paid 750 cedis to the hospital. He said he also paid 300 Ghana cedis to the accountants.

This means he enjoyed a waiver of about 500 Ghana cedis. Cyrus said he’s not the only beneficiary of this scheme put in place by the corrupt accountants.

After gathering substantial evidence, I confronted Michael Attoh, the accountant who brokered the deal. But he said he wasn’t alone.

He named two of his colleagues, Kingsford Amuzu and Eric Nana Kwasi Ankobia as accomplices. They could not deny. They claim they reduce the bill in order to help the patients. Michael Attoh spoke for them.

The three account officers however denied taking 300 Ghana cedis from Cyrus. Upon further interrogations, they admitted they received 100 cedis, but said it was a thank-you gesture given willingly.

An audit report I sighted in the course of the investigations reveal discrepancies between funds collected by some departments and how much they actually pay to the hospital.

It is for this reason that the hospital has contracted some banks to receive payments directly from patients. But with this revelation, it seems the proverbial thief is far ahead of the policeman and the hospital may have to consider other means of stopping the leakage.