Donkorkrom Presby Hospital appeals for ambulance

Health delivery at the Presbyterian Hospital at Donkorkrom in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District in the Eastern Region is facing challenges because the hospital does not have a reliable ambulance.

“Our ambulance is very old, it is weak, and as we speak now, it has been grounded. We have been relying on the community ambulance, which also for some time now has been parked at the district assembly,” the General Manager of the hospital, Mr Kweku Fianko Gyan, told the Daily Graphic in an interview at Donkorkrom.

He said the situation had compelled the facility, the only hospital serving both inland and island communities of the plains, to constantly rely on taxis and pickups to transport referred cases on the Maame Krobo-Agogo road to the Agogo Hospital.

Mr Gyan explained that the hospital could not rely on the services of the pontoon as it had its own schedule of movement and would not alter its schedule, whether a sick person was waiting at the Ekye bank of the river or not.

Movement of the pontoon
He said a patient who was referred to the Koforidua Government Hospital early in the morning would have to wait until after 9 a.m. for the pontoon to move from the Adawso side to Ekye for the ambulance or the vehicle conveying the patient to join.

Asked whether the pontoon had ever changed its schedule because an ambulance was waiting at the other side of the bank, he said “as far as I know that has never happened”.

“If you are referring a patient to be ferried across the lake and the pontoon is closed in the evening, or has not resumed work in the morning or is on break in the afternoon, the patient will have to wait until the workers resume work.”

“The only dispensation they have is that if you get to the river bank and the pontoon is there loading and is full but has not taken off, then one vehicle is withdrawn for the ambulance to enter. But the pontoon will never move because the ambulance is on the other side of the river,” he explained.

Mr Gyan said the situation had compelled the hospital to transport referred patients to the nearest hospital through the Maame Krobo-Agogo road, “especially when we know that the pontoon has closed for the day or is yet to start operating because the time is not yet up”.

“We are forced to use the Maame Krobo-Agogo road because, as healthcare providers, our duty is to get the referred patient who needs advanced or specialised services to the next referral hospital, no matter the nature of the road,” he explained.

NHIS reimbursement
Touching on other challenges, he said the delay in the refund of money under the NHIS was a major challenge to the hospital as about 98 per cent of those who reported to the hospital were card bearers.

“So the moment the insurance delays in reimbursing us, 98 per cent of our money is locked up,” he explained.

When the Daily Graphic visited the hospital in December 2015, the paper learnt that the last time it received reimbursement was in April 2015, with an outstanding bill of over GH¢800,000.

“So, we are also owing our suppliers. We are always pleading with suppliers to give you some products. We call them and they will promise to come but often, they don’t turn up and we cannot begrudge them because we are owing,” he said.

He explained that the major source of the internally generated fund was the refund from the NHIS, which was not regular, and the direct payment of the remaining two per cent of patients without the NHIS card.

Mr Gyan said the hospital, which is a 117-bed facility, did not have standard laundry services.

He explained that currently, the hospital used the domestic washing machine for its laundry materials and manually dried and ironed them, a practice considered unhygienic and a health hazard.

Mr Gyan explained that a standard hospital laundry came with a washing machine, drying and ironing facilities that did not require anything manual.

Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh