The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital in Kumasi is insisting on upfront payment for services and rejecting health insurance card holders seeking medical care.

Administrators of the second largest hospital in the Ashanti Region explain they have had to take the decision because there is no money to run the hospital.

Hospital officials say the National Health Insurance Authority -- issuers of the health insurance cards -- owes the hospital about one million Ghana cedis in claims.

The situation has left patients frustrated, reports Luv News' Prince Appiah.

Director of KNUST Health Service, Yaw Bio, told Luv News the hospital cannot continue serving insurance clients under such circumstances.

"Since January this year, we have not received any payment from the NHIA with respect to our claims" Dr Bio said.

He said capitation grant -- in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 Ghana cedis -- given to the hospital is not enough to cater for the huge number of national health insurance card holders that come to the facility to seek medical attention.

"We have come to the point that we cannot continue to cater for them [patients]. We can't", Dr Bio reiterated.

He said the hospital in highly indebted to suppliers and other service providers as a result of the NHIA's reluctance to pay their claims.

"I am sorry. I want to apologise to the public it is not that we don't want to do it [receive NHIA card holders] but we cannot just meet this demand of our patients that is why we have suspended [the NHIA cards].