Savelugu Hospital mortuary deserted
Medical Superintendent for Savelugu Hospital, Dr S.A Abankwah, has disclosed that patients who die at the facility are left in the ward due to the unavailability of mortuary at the hospital.
According to him, sometimes patients would have to vacate the ward until the body is removed from the ward before they come back.
The Savelugu Hospital has two mortuaries which were built about more than three years ago, but due to lack of fridges and electricity supply, the mortuaries have been abandoned.
A visit by DAILY GUIDE to the abandoned mortuaries revealed that the entire buildings have been taken over by weeds.
Dr Abankwah, however, stated that the facility is likely to convert the mortuaries into stores and laundry.
He applauded the chief of the area for his efforts in ensuring that the mortuaries are operational.
The medical superintendent explained that even though they are in a Muslim community where corpses are not kept for long in mortuaries, the location on the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway makes it mandatory for a functioning mortuary.
The Health Director of Savelugu, Madam Denisia L. Agong, bemoaned the current outstanding indebtedness of NHIA.
She revealed that the NHIA owes the facility 13 months arrears, indicating that the last time they received payment from NHIA was in 2017 for January-March 2016.
The health director added that the non-payment of NHIA has made their operations very difficult, adding that about 90 percent of their clients are health insurance card holders, thus, any delay in the reimbursement puts a lot of stress on their finances.
“Currently, the hospital is operating without most of the essential medicines and non-drug consumables, patients are always asked to go to town to purchase such items because suppliers are no longer prepared to credit us any urgent intervention,” she revealed.
Currently, vehicles at the Savelugu Hospital have broken down, and they are left with the only faulty ambulance at their disposal.
The facility is using the only ambulance as the utility vehicle.
All these were revealed when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health paid a working visit to health facilities in the Northern Region.
FROM Eric Kombat, Savelugu