The Greater Accra Regional Hospital is losing as much as 50 per cent of its Internally Generated Funds (IGF) due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the country.
According to the medical director of the hospital, Dr. Emmanuel Sofrenyo, the hospital which is empowered by the government to run on internally generated funds, have had to close some of its departments which generates revenue for its operation.
He said, for instance, the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Hospital was closed during the lockdown and the eye and dental departments were also closed for disinfection.
He said these departments are yet to be reopened for the public.
“Now that the lock down has been lifted we are in the process to reactivate the outpatient services in a way that will be safe for both the patient and the staff,” he said.
Dr. Sofrenyo in an interview with DGN Online said what is worrying is the extremely low patronage of other regular services of the hospital by the public.
“The other thing is that because of this condition which is ongoing, our regular services have totally gone down that is another challenge.
People are afraid to use hospitals especially when they hear that the hospital is a designated treatment centre.
“They think that it is the main block that treatment is going on, so people call that we hear there are Covid-19 inside the hospital and so they cannot come to the hospital,” he said.
The Greater Accra Regional Hospital’s Medical Director said the hospital staff has on several occasions spent time to educate patients on their safety should they visit the health facility.
He explained that the Covid-19 patients who are within this hospital are located far from the main block.
“The main block is completely safe and we continue to provide services as much as we can. We want to assure our patients that it is not contaminated and it is safe for them to receive other services,” he said.
Dr. Sofrenyo indicated that when people have sever needs for health care they should still be able to go to the various hospitals so they can seek timely care.
“Because, we also do not want the situation where we finish this Covid-19 fight and people now come back with other conditions that will now be killing them because of late presentation.
So we want all of us to be careful and make sure that if you have an urgent condition and for which you have to go to the hospital please go to the hospital that is the advice I have for the general public,” he said.
The Greater Accra Regional Hospital is one of the designated centers for the provision of supportive care to Covid-19 patients.
Ghana has 1,671 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with the Greater Accra Region leading with 1, 433 cases.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri