ST ANTHONY'S HOSPITAL ATTRACTS MORE CLIENTS (PAGE 26)

ON a visit to the St Anthony’s Catholic Hospital at Dzodze in the Ketu-South District of the Volta Region, one would meet a large crowd waiting expectantly for medical care.
This new development has been attributed to the high patronage of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Ketu area.
According to the Hospital Administrator, Mr Christian Akoto-Brown, 92 per cent of the hospital’s clients are covered by the NHIS and that 88 per cent of the internally generated funds were derived from the NHIS with 12 per cent from non insured patients.
He said the NHIS had increased access to healthcare for clients and attendance to the Out Patients Department (OPD), soared from 39,000 in 2007 to 61,125 in 2008, out of which 56,610 were insured and 4,515 non insured.
He said the increased attendance had generated pressure on staff, accommodation and equipment.
Nevertheless, the hospital has maintained a high degree of autonomy in rendering services under the auspices of the Keta-Akatsi Catholic Church Diocesan Health Administration.
Mr Akoto-Brown, however, said the emerging difficulty pertained to the re-imbursement of patients’ claims since they were not paid back on time as well as the non-payment of so called “rejected bills”.
He disclosed that as much as GH¢54,002.03 was rejected by the Ketu District Health Insurance Scheme without any consultation with the hospital authorities while a whooping sum of GH¢73,175.53 was outstanding debt owed the hospital.
This and the late payment of funds locked out money for the purchase of drugs and effective delivery of services.
The hospital administrator said, although the hospital was an orthopaedic one, it lacked a comprehensive X-ray machine.
He said the hospital also rendered services in urology, obstetrics and gynaecology, the latter sponsored by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).
Under the UNFPA programme, the hospital has provided better care for pregnant women with maternal mortality decreasing by 50 per cent while still births and the rate of caesarian operations have reduced.
Mr Akoto-Brown said doctors and midwives had become more conscious and alert with the increased contact created under the UNFPA programme.
He said the hospital had become a teaching hospital for medical students from the Cambridge University, Austria and Germany.
He said locally, the Ho Nursing Training College, Keta Health Aid Assistant Training School, University of Cape Coast, Hohoe Midwifery Training School as well as polytechnics at Ho, Koforidua, Cape Coast and Tamale had posted students to enrich themselves with various aspects of clinical knowledge.
In serving as a teaching hospital, the St Anthony Hospital has served as a focal point for visiting urologists from Germany and for the second time a team arrived on February 1, this year to treat patients for two weeks.
According to him, the Ghana Medical Association and sister associations of foreign countries must be able to enter a bargain to lessen the obstacles usually faced by the foreign volunteers in rendering services to the poor.