Eastern Regional Hospital clarifies detentions; 246 inmates is a cumulative figure | Health

The management of the East Koforidua Regional Hospital said it had not detained some 246 patients at once because they had not paid their bills upon admission.

“We want to emphatically state that the 246 people are not being kept in hospital for defaulting on their bills, and we don’t even have the space to contain these numbers in addition to the patients on admission,” did he declare.

A Daily Graphic publication said last Tuesday that some 246 patients, who had been treated and recovered, were being held by the hospital for failing to pay their medical bills totaling GH ¢ 281,092.

Cumulative figure

However, a statement signed by the hospital’s clinical director, Dr Forster Amponsah, said the 246 patients cited in the report were a cumulative figure of people registered from January through December last year, who could not pay. all or part of their invoices. after discharge.

He said that these people, after being released, were forced to write a pledge after which they were allowed to return home.

For those who have been identified as poor or people in the exempt category, the release says they were enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by medical social workers before being allowed to leave the hospital. .

While some clients may have been able to honor their bills over time, Dr Amponsah said, many were still unable to do so.

He said the bill payment took place at a press night after the hospital’s annual performance review held on March 10 and 11 this year.

NHIS

In a press briefing at the meeting, he said the hospital’s medical director, Dr Arko Akoto-Ampaw, reported that the number of insurance cardholders attending the hospital had increased from 84 % in 2019 to 80.6% in 2020.

This, he said, had a corresponding effect with more people making out-of-pocket payments for health care.

He said some people in this category were vulnerable and were unable to pay their bills at any given time.

Under these circumstances, Dr Amponsah said the medical director implored the general public not to wait until they were not feeling well, but to patronize the NHIS because it was viable and functioning.

“We want to reiterate that the NHIS is working and that our cherished customers must continue to patronize their service,” he said.