Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye is advocating for a percentage of the budget of hospitals to be set aside for patients who show up without funds as well as those without relatives accompanying them.

According to the NHIA boss, this emergency fund will help deal with the situation where health practitioners are not able to provide care to the poor, patients without relatives, and patients without NHIA Cards due to hospital policies.

The former MP who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana was reacting to the Aflao Central Hospital incident where a patient died due to alleged neglect by nurses who were working strictly in accordance with the “cash and carry” system.

According to reports, the nurses allegedly refuse to accept mobile money payment but insisted on cash payment hence leading to the death of the patient who showed up with her 19-year-old son.

Dr. Okoe Boye believes the situation could have been averted if there was an emergency fund to take care of such situations. He explained that the money can be recouped after the patient has received the needed medical care.

“We have to find a way to make sure that hospitals have some funds which the state will be interested in; when I say the state I mean the person who takes care of the vulnerable or the unknown is the state. The state should be interested in making sure that at least X amount of money or X percentage of your annual budget is given to you for the sake of those who appear in your hospitals without relatives,” the Medical Doctor and the CEO of the NHIA suggested.

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