Ray of Hope

Since I began serving at this hospital I have observed a fair amount of occurrences that break your heart. There was the case of a 70-year-old male asthmatic patient with a closed right femur fracture who wouldn’t agree for us to transfer him to the big hospital in Kumasi for surgery. He didn’t have money for the corrective surgery. So, he was discharged against medical advice and we later learned that he went in for herbal treatment to fix his leg. Then the case of a 4-year-old with severe anemia (hemoglobin level of 2.2g/dl) whose dad refused to sign consent for us to transfuse blood. The dad took his boy home against medical advice and there was nothing we could do. The law addressing such issues is murky. We are still looking into that law. Then there are cases of children, mostly infants, who are kept at home for a long time after they become ill. Eventually, the parents will bring them after exhausting herbal medicine options and finding no solution. By that time, the diseas...

Work at the hospital has been going smoothly. However, we are sitting on a time bomb. I have been learning about the financial status of the hospital and discussing with the general manager (CEO) about  matters affecting the state of the facility. Please see the report below. BACKGROUND Based on current statistics, we have seen over 26,000 patients at our 81 bed hospital since the beginning of the year. Approximately, 2,000 of the patients seen so far didn’t have insurance. This means that majority of the patients were insured.  Health insurance is managed by the Ghana central government. For less than $10, a person can be insured for a year within the National Health Insurance scheme (NHIS). Unfortunately, reimbursement of insurance claims is not forthcoming. About a month and half ago (June 2016), the hospital was reimbursed for September 2015’s claims. It’s a miracle that the hospital still exists and can help care for the large amount of people who need its services...