Bribery allegations at Oda Government Hospital

It has come to the notice of The Crusading GUIDE that some government institutions are extorting various sums of money from innocent and distressed persons.

One of such Government institutions is the Oda Government Hospital. It was gathered last year that people who went to the hospital had to pay bribes before they were attended to.

On the eve of the Christmas festivities, hundreds of patients reported at the said hospital every day for the treatment of various sicknesses. Some of these patients reported as early as 5am with the intent to leave the hospital as early as possible, but it happened that those who had such intention on their minds were disappointed by the nefarious activities of some of the staff.

This paper was informed that those who could afford to pay bribes to some of the key officers at the OPD, Pharmaceutical and other departments, could leave the hospital very early, no matter how late they reported to the place.

When some of the patients were interviewed at 12.30pm on Monday, 31 December, they complained bitterly of being ignored because they did not have money to offer, although they said they arrived at the hospital as early as 6.00 in the morning of that day.

According to them, some patients who reported later, and could 'grease the palms' of the medical staff at the OPD, got their folders retrieved for them immediately and were asked to see the doctors on duty.

Some of the OPD staff were interviewed about the cause of delay in retrieving some folders. Their answer was that all the folders had gotten mixed up and were all scattered on the floor outside the office. They denied collecting bribes from the distressed patients.

When the hospital Administrator, Mr. Gyamfi-Yeboah and his deputy, Mr. Clement Marfo, were contacted about these issues, he (Gyamfi Yeboah) exclaimed and said he was not aware of the issue of bribery at the various sections of the hospital, and promised to investigate the matter.

He was not happy with the staff of the OPD concerning the mixing up and scattering of patients' folders. He promised that very soon the issue of the scattered folders would come to pass because the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) had plans of computerizing all data about patients at the hospital.

He again confirmed that effective 1 January, 2008, all patients would take their folders home until the hospital had begun with the computerization process.