The Tamale Teaching Hospital has refuted claims of disbursing salaries to non-existent staff also known as 'ghost names.'

This follows an investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD).

The investigation identified irregularities within the payroll systems of several institutions in the Northern Region, including the hospital and some educational facilities under the Ghana Education Service (GES).

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the Tamale Teaching Hospital's Public Relations Officer, Aliu Zuberu, stated that the hospital had not received any formal communication from the OSP

However, he assured that the hospital is committed to ensuring transparency.

“We disagree with whatever information that is put out there. Although we haven’t had any formal communication from the OSP, we only saw a document being circulated online.”

“Even as we wait for any formal communication, we are taking seriously the issues that have been raised. With regards to HR, the data on staff and all that, some of the issues they raised, we don’t know the details yet. But, we are hearing ghost names and then validation with inactive validation information and all that.”

He further highlighted the need to verify that no ghost employees are on the payroll and that only active employees are being validated.

“So, we need to run through our system to see as they alleged to be sure that, one, they are not ghost names as it has been alleged, and, to be sure that we are not also validating any employee who is not actually on our payroll or even at post.”

“Internally, we are doing our own assessment of what the OSP is putting out, and then we’ll definitely respond to them appropriately,” he said.