Mothers abscond after delivery

Seventeen mothers, who were delivered of their babies at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in December 2002, absconded leaving an unsettled bill of more than 13 million cedis.

Mrs Hectorina Yebuah, Acting Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS), who disclosed this said that, even though, the security at the hospital was tight, the movement of patients could not be restricted. Neither could those who were not able to pay their bills be quarantined.

This gave them the leeway to abscond thus creating huge financial loss to the hospital, Mrs Yebuah said. She urged patients on admission at various hospitals, who claim to be paupers with the aim of getting philanthropists or hospital authorities to settle their bills, must desist from such practice.

Mrs Yebuah said the attitude of such people made it extremely difficult to detect patients, who genuinely could not pay their medical bills when admitted to hospitals.

She said, even though, it was not bad for people with goodwill to come to the aid of patients, who could not afford to pay their medical bills, members of the public must act responsibly.

Mrs Yebuah said many people had come to realise that women, who were unable to pay their medical bills, were sometimes freed by either the hospitals or had their bills settled by philanthropists.

The DDNS explained that social workers investigate the background of patients before they were declared as paupers and allowed to go. "On December 31, 2002 the hospital freed 34 patients between the ages of 16 and 45 years for not being able to pay their medical bills as part of their cost sharing policy. This cost the hospital over 30 million cedis.