The government was on Wednesday sued at an Accra High Court for failing to implement the Hospital Fees Act which exempts certain category of Ghanaians from paying medical bills. The plaintiff is the Legal Resource Centre, a health for the poor campaign group.
The writ is seeking the court to compel the government, through the Ministry of Health (MOH), to exempt pregnant women, the elderly and children under five years from paying medical fees.
The Centre has also petitioned the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate an alleged human rights violation of a patient who was detained from the Ridge Hospital for his inability to pay ?2.3m as medical fees after he had been discharged.
At a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, the Field Coordinator of the Centre, Ms Nihad Swallah, quoted the Hospital Fees Act 387 of Act 1971, as providing exemption from medical fees for pregnant women, the elderly of 70 years and above, children under five years and paupers.
The exemption, she contended, was rarely ever enforced in the country’s public hospitals and even if provided at all, the Ministry of Health often found it difficult reimbursing the public hospitals that provided such exemptions.
Ms Swallah said that as a result, most poor people were denied medical treatment as they did not have the money to pay. The Centre cited Muhammed Zakari, 75, as a victim of human rights to health care.
Muhammed Zakari, a pauper, was alleged detained at the Ridge Hospital since December 12 last y ear until Tuesday. Ms Swallah also cited Danladi, who was shot by a soldier during a military-police patrol in April, last year but was denied exemption at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The Legal Centre, she said, had embarked on the two legal actions at CHRAJ and the High Court with the aim to help improve the overall health of the poor. Zakari later recounted his experience at the Ridge Hospital where he underwent surgery and was asked to pay a medical bill of ?2.3m.
He said that it was only on Tuesday 21 January 2003 that a philanthropist, who heard of his plight, went to rescue and paid the said amount that he was released.
