Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Renal Unit brouhaha needs to be resolved

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has been invited to appear before Parliament on Thursday to answer questions on the clo­sure of the Renal Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

His appearance before parliament is in response to an order issued by the Sec­ond Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, for him to brief Parliament on the clo­sure of the Renal Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The Ranking member on the Health Committee and Member of Parliament (MP) for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, requested Par­liament to invite the health minister to brief the House on developments at the Renal Unit of the Korle Bu Teach­ing Hospital.

The Unit had been under lock and key since May this year forcing renal patients to seek treatment at private facilities at exorbitant fees.

In a statement on the floor of Parliament on Friday, Mr. Akandoh said the Unit needed to be reopened to prevent further deaths of renal patients.

“The reopening of the outpatient department cannot continue to be in abeyance, and even more distressing is the statement from the Renal Patients Association that since the closure of the outpatient department of the renal unit in May, more than 19 of its members have died.

“The tragic loss of life emphasizes the urgency of the matter and the necessity for immediate intervention,” Mr. Akandoh argued.

Before the invitation to the minister, there has been an intense public discussion on the closure of the renal unit following the sudden notice by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital’s dialysis centre informing patients of a price hike.

However, the hospital explained that the price adjust­ment of renal dialysis from GH¢380 to GH¢765.42 was yet to receive consideration and approval from the Minis­try of Health and subsequent parliamentary endorsement.

In a statement, the hospital management acknowledged the concerns regarding the affordability of renal dialysis and assured the public that the revised fee would only be implemented after obtaining the necessary parliamentary approval.

They emphasised their un­derstanding of the challenges faced by renal dialysis patients and expressed commitment to work with stakeholders and philanthropists to subsidise dialysis reagents and services, as they have been doing over the years.

Fortunately, the Ghanaian Times picked signals yesterday that the Minister of Health, before he appears before Parlia­ment, has issued a directive to the management of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to prompt­ly reopen the Renal Dialysis Unit for outpatient services.

Mr. Isaac Baah Ofei, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, is reported to have confirmed the minister’s directive and said the minister instructed the Chief Executive Officer of Korle-Bu to oversee the immediate reopening and urged the hospital to issue a public statement detailing the situation and when access to the services would resume.

We applaud the Minister for listening to the plea of the public and directing Korle-Bu to reopen the unit to serve patients.

We are of the view, however, that, the order should not end the matter. The ministry should also thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to the price adjustment with the view of supporting the hospital to operate at a reasonable cost.

We hope that both the Ministry and Parliament’s intervention will resolve all other issues at the unit so that patients can return and pay af­fordable price for treatments.