Management of ‘Korle Bu’ assure renal disease patients of resumption of treatment by close of week

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has re-assured renal disease patients who dialyze at the facility’s renal center that the hospital is working to ensure that consumables are cleared and brought in by close of the week.

Members of the Renal Patients Association of Ghana are in anticipation of the reopening of the unit as some of them are in critical condition due to the three weeks of closure. The patients have already served notice to picket at the facility on Wednesday August 21 if the consumables are not released by close of Tuesday.

Head of Communications at the hospital, Mustapha Salifu in an interview on 3FM’s Hot Edition noted that the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer had been at the Ministry of Finance to engage with the Minister who has given a strong indication of ensuring the processes for the clearance are fast-tracked.

‘‘The items were shipped into the country, and we have been working on it. Initially, we had a problem with the shipping line with documentations so when we were done, we got the 20-footer container out. And we opened up to the in patients, but we realized that we didn’t have all the consumables we need to include the outpatient as well. Today, our CEO was at the Ministry. We have gotten the assurance from the Finance Ministry that it will speed up the process for the containers to get to Korle Bu before the week ends so that we can resume operations fully,’’ he explained.

He further noted that the hospital is yet to engage the renal patients who paid for services under the government free dialysis programme to make a decision on how they want their monies refunded.

‘‘We have received the monies from the National Health Insurance Authority and just when we were about to start discussions on the reimbursement, we had the situation of the shortage so we are in talks with them. We will be finding out if they will want it refunded or if they will want us to roll over for subsequent dialysis sessions later on,” he said.