Government’s
attempt to institute one time premium policy for the National Health Insurance Scheme
could suffer a major setback in the Northern region since there are clear
indications that the Tamale Teaching Hospital might soon cease operating the
scheme.
Authorities at the Tamale
Teaching Hospital grieved that the regional secretariat of the National Health
Insurance Scheme owes that major health referral centre billions of Ghana cedis
for services rendered to beneficiaries of the scheme over the years.
Dr. Ken Sagoe, Chief Executive
Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital raised this as one of the major
constraints affecting the hospital’s development agenda when he presented a
report on the hospital’s annual performance review for the year 2009.
Dr. Sagoe said his administration
mounted incessant pressure on the NHIS regional secretariat to defray the debt
and that a cheque recently issued in response to the request bounced at the
counter when attempts were made to withdraw the money.
The Tamale Teaching Hospital
C.E.O complained that service providers have declined to supply the hospital
with drugs and the necessary materials to function as the only referral
hospital in the Northern region.
Dr. Sagoe also disclosed that
funding for the Tamale Teaching Hospital suffered a major setback because the
hospital’s Government of Ghana item 2 budget was frozen and that worsened its
financial crisis.
Shifting his attention to some
positive developments, Dr. Sagoe announced that negotiations and documentation
required for the rehabilitation of the Tamale Teaching hospital was almost
complete for work to begin.
The Tamale Teaching Hospital
C.E.O said despite the ban on public sector employment, the hospital recruited
346 staff comprising 90 Nurses, 26 Doctors and what he referred to as 183
category D&E staff.
“Apart from the Neurosurgical
unit which was opened in the year 2009: the Tamale Teaching Hospital has
also operationalized the newly refurbished intensive care unit with the arrival
of a consultant Anaesthetist and intensive care specialist,” Dr. Sagoe stated.
Abdul-Karim Naatogmah
