The Member of Parliament for North-Tongu constituency, Honourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has made some gigantic fouls happening in Ghana’s health sector.
In his lastest expose, Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa is alleging that, the government’s inability to cough out GHS4million which would have been utilized by the Korle-Bu hospital in the provision of dialysis machine has led to some patients in the renal unit loosing their lives. Meanwhile, the Komfo Anokye teaching hospital has also not been spared of the same dialysis machine crisis been used to treat patients in the renal unit.
“Ghana’s health sector has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. A few months ago, 19 renal patients lost their lives at the Korle-Bu Renal Unit because government was unable to provide just GHS4million. The dialysis crisis has still not been resolved even as private companies like the First Sky Group come to the rescue.
“Doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) have warned that all their dialysis machines except one and half have broken down without government intervention to replace them for several months.”
Honourable Samuel Okudzeto further added that, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has also been lacking the mammography machine which is used in detecting emergence of breast cancer in human beings.
“KATH has been without a mammography machine to diagnose early signs of breast cancer for several years. Prominent chiefs and opinion leaders continue to agitate about their abandoned hospital projects — most of which were almost completed by 2016.”
Plus, Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa criticized the current government for failing to prioritize the health sector of this country, siting various instances where the government had failed to make provisions needed for Ghana’s health sector to stand tall.
“Not too long ago, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government could not provide childhood vaccines leading to a national emergency. Ghana had to fall on Nigeria for a bailout albeit under deceitful circumstances.
“Numerous government hospitals are lamenting the lack of critical medical equipment needed to save lives. If MRI machines at prestigious hospitals such as 37 and Ridge have broken down for months without resources to repair or replace them, then one can imagine the situation in less endowned facilities. Indeed, former Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu told Parliament not too long ago that Ghana has only 4 functioning MRIs in government hospitals across the entire country.
“Funding for President Akufo-Addo’s flagship Agenda 111 has remained a huge challenge as he repeatedly misses his completion deadlines since the peak of COVID-19. Doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers continue to agitate for better working conditions. The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) revealed this week that already some 6,000 nurses have left Ghana since August 2023 in search of the proverbial greener pastures.
“The GRNMA President, Mrs. Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo left many Ghanaians further depressed when she revealed that many heroic nurses who put their lives at great risk on the frontlines of the covid war have still not received the package they were promised by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.
“Ghanaians are yet to recover from the tragedy at the Tema General Hospital NICU which occurred a few days ago when the hospital was subjected to DUMSOR. Apparently, the standby generator to protect babies on oxygen was faulty. One mother insists she lost her precious baby because of this national disgrace. Health facilities which were hitherto exempted from ECG disconnections no longer enjoy that dispensation.”
However, Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa seized the opportunity to quiz government for failing to give priority to the health sector.
“As a Member of Parliament, I have been compelled to rely on my external network to equip hospitals and establish a surgical block in my beloved constituency.
“With this shambolic state of health care in Ghana, one wonders why the current Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government will ignore the priorities begging for urgent solutions, and rather be fixated on dubious, duplicative and deadly so-called digitalization initiatives at a heartless cost of GHS2.67billion?”
“To our utter shock, the National Health Insurance Authority has submitted a 2024 allocation formula to Parliament which mindlessly and unpatriotically prioritizes the following:
- Biometric ID Cards and Authentication System — GHS405.74million (this is despite the billions we have already spent on Ghana Cards)
- Management Information System — GHS343.92million
- Capturing of Claims Data — GHS112million
- Ministry of Health (Health Provider – E-Health Solution) — GHS80million
- Claims Processing Centres and E-Claims — GHS76million
- Archival System and Document Management— GHS38.58million
- Telecare Services Platform — GHS30million
- Transfer of Data from NIA GHS10million
- E-Pharmacy — GHS11million
