Patients refuse to pay their bills to gain amnesty on the eve of Jubilee

Koforidua, Dec. 31, GNA- Many patients at the Koforidua Regional Hospital, especially mothers of newly born babies, were refusing to pay their bills because of the rumour in town that they could be granted an amnesty to go home because of the coming Jubilee year of the country. As at Friday, there were 16 such mothers at the maternity ward alone owing the hospital over 20 million cedis who had been discharged but were refusing to pay their bills and giving various excuses.

When the Ghana News Agency interacted with some of the mothers, there were some who had problems in paying their bills since one claimed that the man who impregnated her was a drivers mate who had not visited her since she was admitted at the hospital while another claimed that the husband was a driver in the Brong Ahafo Region and message had been sent to him for over a week but had not responded to the message.

Meanwhile about eight patients who could not pay their bills had absconded from various wards of the hospital and as such the management of the hospital had tightened the security at the wards.

Since the first week of December, the hospital had been advertising on the two FM radio stations in the Koforidua Municipality about the possible increase in the hospital bills from January 2007 and had been calling on the people to register with the Municipal Health Insurance Scheme to enable them to continue to enjoy quality health care.