A member of the Health Committee of Parliament, Sebastian Sandaare, has attributed the shutdown of the renal unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to a failure in leadership.
The facility closed for five months due to a GH¢4 million debt, reopened on Monday. Tragically, during the closure, 19 renal patients lost their lives.
In response to a briefing by the Health Minister in Parliament in Accra on Thursday, the MP for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa criticized the government for its lack of proactive measures to save lives that were lost.
Sandaare highlighted the absence of immediate leadership action on the first day of the notice, emphasizing that 19 people perished due to being denied fundamental rights.
“So what did the Ministry of Health do? That is what I mean by leadership failure. So the very first day the notice came was the very first day we expected leadership and for the government and the Ministry to say that you cannot do that on your own. As we speak about 19 people have perished because they were denied fundamental rights,” he said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu acknowledged the inadequacy of the current fee of GH¢380 for dialysis treatment, stating that it is insufficient to sustain the renal unit at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Agyeman-Manu explained that this inadequacy has compromised the unit’s ability to generate enough revenue to fulfil its contractual obligations in terms of timely payment for consumables.
“It remains a fact that the current charge of GH¢380 for dialysis is insufficient to enable the RDU to generate enough revenue to fulfil its full obligations under the contract with FMC especially as it does not have any exchange rate per annum regime.”
“This has compromised the ability of the RDU to raise the funds required to pay for consumables procured from FMC promptly. Due to the high incidence of patients requiring dialysis the total cost of care keeps rising adding to the accumulation of beds,” he said.