Duncan Amoah calls for dedicated fund to retool health facilities

Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Duncan Amoah, has called for the establishment of a dedicated medical fund to specifically support the retooling of health facilities across the country, as part of efforts to address Ghana’s persistent “no bed syndrome.”

Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, May 9, he responded to findings from a report into the death of Charles Amissah.

According to Amoah, the challenges confronting Ghana’s healthcare system are largely rooted in weak planning and insufficient investment in modern medical infrastructure and equipment.

He argued that successive governments have often prioritised the construction of hospital buildings without adequately providing the resources and systems needed to make them fully functional.

“As a country, we don’t plan well for health facilities. We go and erect two or three blocks and put in a few machines and say it is a hospital. And then you post a young man who has lived in Accra or Kumasi all his life where even accommodation is a challenge,” he stated.

He further stressed the need for a long-term, targeted funding mechanism that would focus not only on general healthcare financing but also on upgrading and equipping hospitals to effectively manage emergency cases.

“And so I will insist that we should have a medical fund, not health fund that does proper retooling of some of our health facilities,” he added.

Amoah’s remarks come amid growing public concern following the death of Charles Amissah, who reportedly died after being denied emergency treatment at three different hospitals.

Amissah was involved in a hit-and-run accident on February 6 and was rushed for medical attention, but the three hospitals allegedly refused to admit and treat him.

Source: Citi News