Karaga Polyclinic overburdens patients

By:  Edmond Gyebi, Tamale 
Complaints reaching The Chronicle have indicated that the authorities of the Karaga Polyclinic are twisting the arms of most patients who visit the facility, to pay certain 'unapproved fees' before accessing an ambulance, donated to the facility by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area.

According to our information, the hospital authorities are compelling sick persons who have been referred to the Tamale, Gushiegu or Yendi hospitals for tertiary healthcare services, to pay as high as GH¢100, and also fuel the ambulance to and from the referral centre.

Some residents are now raising objections to the unapproved fee, claiming that the ambulance was donated by their MP to enhance quality healthcare delivery, and that they would not allow the authorities to continue to overburden patients on referrals, including women in labour. Those who are not able to pay the amount, they said, were always left to their own fate.

Three of the victims of this seeming extortion, who spoke to The Chronicle on the grounds of anonymity, described the act as 'inhuman and a complete extortion' by the hospital authorities.

They lamented that the high fee, if not checked or curtailed, would set the grounds for preventable deaths, since it was discouraging most of the patients who had been referred to other health centres, as they would have to either go back home or resort to herbal treatment.

The few others who go to the referral centres also prefer to use commercial transport, which they indicated always caused discomforts and stigmatisations to the patients.

When contacted by The Chronicle, the Medical Superintendent at the Karaga Polyclinic, Dr. Abraham Atutiga, admitted that the ambulance was purchased by the MP to enhance healthcare delivery.

He, however, explained that the hospital authorities had arrived at the decision to generate a little money for the maintenance of the ambulance, since there was not any clear source of income for the regular servicing and maintenance of the vehicle.

According to him, the hospital authorities were charging GH¢50 and also demanding that patients fuel the vehicle before use, but not GH¢100 as was being reported by the residents.

Dr. Atutiga noted that the GH¢50 goes into the hospital's account for future maintenance, while the fueling of the vehicle was also applicable at almost every health centre in the region, and wondered why the people of Karaga alone were complaining.

The Medical Superintendent indicated that his outfit had made efforts to lobby the Karaga District Assembly to take responsibility of the maintenance of the ambulance in order to bring a little relief to the people, but the assembly was yet to respond.

The Member of Parliament for Karaga, Iddrisu Dauda told The Chronicle in an interview that he was not aware that the hospital authorities were charging money before releasing the ambulance for patients during emergencies.

He said that it was not legitimate for the hospital authorities to slap GH¢50 or GH¢100 on patients after asking them to fuel the ambulance, because the vehicle was procured to support the people in case of emergencies.

The Officer in Charge of Social Welfare in the Karaga District, Ibrahim Abdul Wahabu, told the paper that efforts were being made by the stakeholders to form a committee to manage the ambulance.

He said currently, the Karaga District Assembly had no hand in the management of the ambulance, and the said amount being charged did not go to the assembly.

Even though he somehow justified the concerns of the people, Mr. Wahabu said the ambulance service should not be free in Karaga, because, according to him, it was not free anywhere, but cautioned that it should be hired at a realistic price.

When contacted the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Karaga, Sulemana Hussein Issah, refused to comment on the issue, and eventually referred this paper to the hospital authorities.