Ranking member on the Health Committee of Parliament and MP for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has described the indebtedness of some 91 hospitals nationwide to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as disturbing.
According to the ECG, these 91 hospitals, including 37 Military Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), the Police Hospital, and the University of Ghana Hospital, amongst others, owe an estimated amount of GH¢261 million in total.
The power distribution company, ECG, has warned that these hospitals would be disconnected from the national grid in the coming days if they failed to make some commitments towards defraying their debts.
Speaking to Alfred Ocansey, host of TV3’s Ghana Tonight programme on Wednesday, March 13, the Juaboso lawmaker said, “Yes, it is a disturbing news,” adding that healthcare delivery in the country is a social good.
“Especially when it comes to the public health sector, we must be thinking more about the welfare of the people than breaking even and making profits. So that is why past governments had some kind of intervention to take care of activities in the various hospitals,” he stated.
He further stressed that under the circumstances, it means that the hospitals would have to generate their own revenue to be able to offset these debts.
However, the ranking member underscored that “the bills are very huge, and so even when the government was paying these bills for the health facilities, you’d know how they were struggling not to talk about withdrawing these interventions.”
He further warned that should these interventions by the government be withdrawn, “it would have a dire consequences [for] the health sector.”
The NDC MP further called on the government to investigate whether utility usage has been abused within the health sector.
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However, he maintained that the government must work to settle those bills if it is proven that the electricity consumption is for healthcare delivery.
The power distribution company has come under criticism for defaulting on its payment obligations to some power producers in the country.
Meanwhile, ranking member of the Energy Committee of Parliament, John Jinapor, has revealed that ECG owes power producers US$1.5 billion.
Jinapor attributed this substantial debt to ECG’s failure to meet payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and its inability to fully settle bills for purchased electricity.