KATH detains corpse for non-payment of medical bills

Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi has detained the corpse of a man who passed away at the hospital while receiving treatment from injuries sustained through a road accident.

The hospital is asking the family of the deceased to first pay off the GH¢15,600 [fifteen thousand, six hundred Cedis] debt incurred from about two months of admission and treatment until he died last Friday.

The widow, Madam Amama Mutaikelo who made this known to the GBC in Kumasi, said her late husband, Yahaya Mutaikelo, a mason, was knocked down by a hit-and run motor cycle rider at Abirem in the Kwabre District about two months ago and was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital by a passer-by.

Madam Mutaikelo, who is a petty trader at Salaga in the Northern region, said she moved to Kumasi to take care of the husband and was occasionally given medical prescriptions to buy for him.

According to Madam Mutaikelo, she was given the two month bill of the husband’s treatment a few days to his demise but the family indicated that they could not afford the money.

She said she managed to pay GH¢5,000.00 [five thousand Cedis] of the total bill from the proceeds of alms.

However, the hospital’s management is insisting that the bill be settled before the corpse will be released to the family.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kwame Frimpong, confirmed the matter but indicated that the family has to top up the amount due before the body will be released.