Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee, has called the increase in the price of kidney dialysis treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as unlawful.
He claims that the hospital cannot modify its fees or charges without first contacting Parliament, as required by law.
His remark comes in the wake of a recent increase in the cost of renal dialysis therapy at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital from 380 to 765.
Mustapha Salifu, KBTH’s Public Relations Officer, noted that the increase is due to high taxes and import levies on consumables.
According to Mr Salifu, the government has abolished the tax exemption on these consumables, necessitating the need to raise the price to pay the expense of the service.
If the hospital reverts to its previous pricing, he believes the dialysis clinic would have to close within days.
The cost hike might be duplicated in other regional hospitals around the country in the near future.
However, Mintah Akandoh of JoyFM Midday News stated that the hospital’s fees and charges are governed by the Fees and Charges Act and that any price increase must be approved by parliament.
However, it is an expensive procedure that many Ghanaians cannot afford.
“To start with it is illegal because every public health facility, their fees and charges must be regulated by what we call Fees and Charges Act. So your fees and charges must be approved by parliament. You just can’t sit at the hospital and fix fees or charges anyhow,” he said.
According to him, no such problem has been brought before the Health Committee, hence the price increase is unlawful.
“And I am not aware from where I sit as a Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, I am not aware and I don’t know and we have not done such a thing, we have not approved that 765 they want to charge.
“So please, in as much as I agree that there’s high inflation, in as much as I agree there’s economic hardship going on, I think that citizens must not pay for the recklessness of government,” he said.
He has previously urged the government to reinstate the tax exemption on consumables in order to cut the cost of medical care.
“We are calling on government to, as a matter of urgency, restore the tax exemptions on these items that have necessitated the astronomical increase in the cost of dialysis.
“It is quite unconscionable, highly unacceptable, we are talking about health care, we are talking about dialysis, something that you need not less than two or three times within a week, and you’re moving the price from 380 ghana cedis to 765.
“The government is so insensitive to the extent that now we’re pushing people into the grave. How can we do this? How?”
