Parliamentary caucus criticizes Korle-Bu Hospital for unauthorized dialysis fee hike

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has raised concerns over the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital's unilateral decision to increase the cost of renal dialysis from GHS¢380 to GHS¢765.42, denouncing the move as "illegal and outrageous."

The Minority Caucus' Spokesperson on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh maintains that the hospital lacks the authority to establish its fees and charges without parliamentary approval.

“Korle-Bu is a public institution so they cannot set their own fees and charges and any charge should come through Parliament through the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of course, I am also a member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee and I don’t know of any such outrageous amount approved for the charge for dialysis and so any such fees that is being charged in Korle-Bu is strictly illegal and they must stop with immediate effect,” he said in an interview on Citi FM.

Mr. Akandoh further urged the hospital to prioritize the delivery of quality healthcare services to Ghanaians over profit-making.

“The main objective of a public health facility is not profit-making. The main objective of every public health facility in this country is to provide quality healthcare to the people and not profit-making,” he said.

Mr. Akandoh said that if the excessive charges are not retracted by Monday, October 2, the Minority Caucus will be compelled to conduct an on-site visit to assess the situation.

“If they do not stop, we will be there by Monday to have first-hand information and from there, we will have to haul the Minister of Health before the Subsidiary Legislation Committee to come and answer some questions because this is highly unacceptable, it is unconscionable, and we must not entertain it,” he said.