Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, has confirmed that the government has disbursed funds to settle the hospital’s GH¢4 million debt.
Dr. Ampomah disclosed that the funds were released in November of the previous year, addressing concerns raised by Pharmacist Kwame Sarpong Asiedu about the hospital’s alleged outstanding debt.
While Dr. Ampomah acknowledged the release of funds, he clarified that negotiations with creditors were ongoing for the debt settlement and the next supply of consumables.
“The MoH has since requested the Finance Ministry to settle the total indebtedness to the GH¢4 million and the good news is that the Minister for Finance has just approved the disbursement of GH¢4 million to support our patients in Korle Bu.”
“The discussion does not help if we put out erroneous information that seems to be the impression that some people are reneging on their responsibility or are callous [inaudible] this does not help the discussion. This money was released last year. The money has been credited to us,” the CEO said.
He emphasized the hospital’s commitment to securing better terms and exploring alternative options to reduce the cost of dialysis.
“That’s what we’re working on now. We’re working on firm guarantees to get our outstanding equipment and consumables shipped to the unit,” he explained.
“While we were having the discussion we talked about some of the contractual issues and we felt that looking at the contract and what has transpired so far, we also think that we can get better terms and we’re also looking at other options because this is a closed system, so we’re looking at other options to also bring down the cost of dialysis even further. So that is what is being explored at the moment but the unit is running,” he added.
Background:
Last year, the Korle Bu Renal Unit faced a four-month shutdown due to an accumulated debt of ₵4 million, resulting from the removal of tax and excise duty exemptions on medical consumables.
Attempts to increase the cost of dialysis were met with public protest, prompting the government to promise debt settlement, full reopening of the Renal Unit, and inclusion of kidney dialysis treatment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).