The Minority in Parliament is calling on the government to urgently intervene to prevent the disconnection of power to 91 hospitals in the country.
The Electricity Company of Ghana has threatened to disconnect the power supply to these hospitals due to their outstanding debts amounting to 261 million Ghana Cedis.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, has proposed several measures for the government to adopt in addressing this issue.
Akandoh emphasized that the disconnection of the power supply to these hospitals would not only impact the facilities but also pose a threat to patients’ health status.
He highlighted the constitutional right to good health and urged the government to ensure that health service delivery is maintained as a social good.
The Minority is calling for the necessary process to pay all outstanding bills of public health facilities to prevent power cuts.
They also suggest exploring alternative funding mechanisms for health facilities, such as the National Health Insurance Fund covering some utility bills to ensure uninterrupted healthcare services.
Akandoh pointed out that many health service facilities in Ghana are mainly publicly funded, and it is inexcusable to threaten these vital services.
The government is urged to intervene and find reliable funding solutions to avoid disruptions in healthcare services and uphold the constitutional guarantee of access to good health for all Ghanaians.
“While serving notice to the ECG that health service delivery is a social good, the government must work as tediously to ensure that maintenance of health service delivery as a social good is not threatened by this dereliction of duty towards the maintenance and provision of the same. Article 342 of the 1992 constitution guarantees the right to good health. Because of this, services provided by health facilities are generally provided at cost plus a small margin to ensure that the service can continuously provide the neediest service in a sustainable manner.”
“The minority is also of the opinion that the government should find other reliable funding mechanisms other than the IGF of health facilities to cover these important expenditure line items. In this regard, the government could consider if the National Health Insurance Fund could take up some of the utility bills of health facilities to enhance or ensure that the service is not curtailed.”
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