The Korle Bu University Hospital is likely to be closed in March

General News on Thursday, January 24, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-01-24

The largest hospital in Ghana, Korle Bu University Hospital, is likely to be closed by March 31, 2019.

According to the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA), the body mandated to accredit healthcare facilities in Ghana, Korle Bu operates without a valid license.

HeFra Board Chair Nana Otuo Acheampong disclosed this information to Joy News reporter Matilda Wemega during an inspection of some private and public health facilities in Accra.

The inspection is part of a national exercise aimed at putting an end to the activities of non-compliant health facilities for non-compliance.

In response to the unlicensed operating charges, Korle Bu's general manager, Mr. Daniel Asare, said that he had started the process to get one.

"Everything will be done to get the necessary accreditation," adding that the institution is "almost halfway through the process."

Korle Bu is not the only health facility operating without a license. Obengfo Hospital is not registered either. This fact was revealed by Mr. Matthew Kyeremeh, HeFRA Register Manager in 2018, when Miss Stacy Offei Darko, Deputy Executive Director of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Program (NEIP), lost her life .

Nana Acheampong, who answers Matilda's question about why HeFRA is about to crack now, said that "until the arrival of Hefra, public hospitals were regulated by the Ghana Health Service. And they did it in a very credible way. It is therefore the new law that places them (health institutions) under HeFRA. "

He adds that despite the adoption of the law establishing HeFRA law in 2011, the board of directors was not reconstituted after the dissolution of the new government in 2017.

"Unfortunately, the new government has fallen a bit between 2011 and 2017. So it's in April 2017 that HeFRA said it was working. Before that, even the council had been dissolved, "he told Matilda.

In the attached audio, the council chair hinted that health facilities had until March 31 to comply with the regulation or were likely to be closed.

HeFRA reports to the Ministry of Health and is mandated under the first part of the 2011 Law on Health Establishments and Institutions (Law No. 829) to authorize and monitor facilities for the provision of public and private health services .