Medical Superintendent at Effiduase Government Hospital says the facility is reeling under financial crisis due to Covid-19.
Dr David Antwi-Agyei says the situation requires urgent stakeholder support to save the hospital and other such public facilities from imminent bankruptcy.
He said because of the pandemic, patients are unwilling to come into the hospitals like before. This, he added has impacted negatively on the hospitals internally-generated funds (IGF).
“Patients are not coming to the hospital as much as they should. Our IGF is going down, our income has gone down but our expenditures have risen. Even the consumables are getting scarce. Previously, we could procure them on credit and we were given a payment plan but now they wouldn’t give if you don’t have cash,” he said.
Dr. Antwi-Agyei revealed this when Reach Out Medical Team, donated personal protective equipment and other anti-Covid-19 materials to the hospital.
He stated that the novel coronavirus outbreak had come with an increased demand for PPEs, especially, for health workers, pointing out that the fight against the virus required an all-hands-on-deck approach.
He commended the donors for the gesture and appealed for more of such support.
The founder of Reach out Medical Team is Dr Frank Yirenkyi is formerly of Effiduase Government Hospital and is currently stationed at the Koforidua Government Hospital.
A similar gesture had been extended to Worawora Government Hospital in the Volta Region and Koforidua Government Hospital in the Eastern Region.
Dr Yirenkyi urged frontline health workers to abide by the ethics of their job during this pandemic. He also advised them to fight against stigmatising survivors of the virus.
The items worth 30,000 Ghana cedis include coverall coats, chlorine powder, hand-gloves, wellington boots, goggles, face masks, hand-sanitizers, veronica buckets, paper-wipes and liquid soap.