The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has come under fire from the Minority Caucus in Parliament for raising the price of renal dialysis from GHS 380 to GHS 765.42. The move has been dubbed "illegal and obscene."
According to Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minority Caucus' spokeswoman on health, the hospital cannot set its own fees and charges without parliamentary consent.
I am also a member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, and I don't know of any such outrageous amount approved for the charge for dialysis. Therefore, any such fees that are being charged in Korle-Bu are strictly illegal and they must stop with immediate effect, he said. "Korle-Bu is a public institution so they cannot set their own fees and charges and any charge should come through Parliament through the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of course," he said.
Moreover, Akandoh encouraged the facility to put the needs of Ghanaians first rather than focusing solely on its bottom line.
"A public health facility's main goal is not to earn a profit. The provision of high-quality healthcare to the public, not profit-making, is the primary goal of every public health facility in this nation, he stated.
Akandoh stated that if the exorbitant fee is not stopped by Monday, October 2, the Minority Caucus will be forced to visit the hospital to assess the issue.
The Minister of Health will need to appear before the Subsidiary Legislation Committee to answer some questions if they don't stop, he warned. "This is highly unacceptable, it is unconscionable, and we must not entertain it," he said. "If they don't stop, we will be there by Monday to have first-hand information."
-By Ametor Blessing|Mydailyreports24|Ghana
0 Comments