13 Mums Abscond From Hospital

Thirteen women have so far run away from the Atibie government hospital after they delivered this year.

The district chief executive, Nana Onwona Asante, said this at the launch of this year's malaria awareness campaign at Mpraeso in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region.

Nana Asante explained that the pregnant women had no money to pay their medical bills and had also not registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme.

The Medical Superintendent, Dr. Isaac Osabutey confirmed the story and said the hospital authorities had decided to collect a deposit before any woman could deliver at the hospital.

In an interview the District Director of Health Services, Joseph Opare Larbi, also said the women have been playing such tricks on them and now it has to stop.

He said any woman who comes to deliver would have to pay a deposit of at least ў50,000 (fifty thousand cedis) “If they are able to provide their insurance cards their moneys would be refunded to them”.

We need money to run the hospitals, he said. “So we cannot allow this to continue.”

He appealed to all Ghanaians especially Kwahu citizens both at home and abroad to register with the NHIS for easy access to health facilities in the country.

Earlier on, in his welcome address, Dr. Opare Larbi said, in 2005 about 50 per cent of all OPD cases in the district were malaria cases and ranked third in the number of deaths.

He said, 19 children under five years died of malaria but was optimistic that the number can be reduced to the barest by the end of the year.

“No pregnant woman had died from malaria for the past two years,” he said. He appealed to the citizens to report every sickness to the health centre for correct diagnosis and treatment.

The theme for the programme was “Get your Act together, universal access to artemisinin combination therapy is a fundamental Human Right.” It was attended by the Regional Health Director, Dr. E.A. Denkyira and Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Miss Suzzy Mensah.