The Minister of Health designate, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, has announced plans to secure funding to cover hospital electricity bills and prevent disconnections.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had issued disconnection notices to 91 hospitals with outstanding bills, threatening to cut them off from the national grid if payments were not made.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) had instructed all government health facilities to use Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to pay their electricity bills starting from June 1, 2023.
Speaking at the Health Sector Annual Summit 2024 on May 15, Dr. Okoe-Boye acknowledged that this directive had negatively impacted some health facilities.
He mentioned that, the Health Ministry is implementing measures to assist government hospitals with their electricity payments.
“Public hospitals in Ghana are struggling to pay their electricity bills. Health service providers have particularly complained about using 40 percent of their revenue to cover these costs.
“Additionally, the electricity company of Ghana issued a demand notice to some 91 hospitals with outstanding bills, warning of disconnection should they fail to pay their bills. We have had some discussions with the Ministry of Finance, and the government has worked out an arrangement to bring relief to all these hospitals. Going forward, we are working on modalities so that we are efficient with our energy use in our hospitals,” he stated.
READ ALSO:
- Parts of Accra flooded again after heavy rainfall
- I will change the President if… – Kofi Amoabeng
- Sarkodie drops heavy punches on Shatta Wale in latest song