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Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the ranking member on Parliament’s Health Committee and Member of Parliament for Juaboso, has expressed deep concern over the indebtedness of 91 hospitals across Ghana to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Akandoh described the situation as distressing, emphasizing the critical role of healthcare delivery as a social good. He highlighted that these hospitals, including prominent institutions like the 37 Military Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), Police Hospital, and University of Ghana Hospital, collectively owe an estimated GH¢261 million to the ECG.
The ECG has issued warnings of impending disconnections from the national grid if the hospitals fail to make commitments towards settling their debts.
In an interview with Alfred Ocansey on TV3’s Ghana Tonight program, Akandoh stressed the importance of prioritizing the welfare of citizens over profit-making in the public health sector. He noted the challenges faced by hospitals in generating revenue to offset such significant debts, even when past governments provided interventions to support healthcare activities.
Akandoh cautioned that withdrawing government interventions could have dire consequences for the health sector, urging the government to investigate possible abuses in utility usage within healthcare facilities.
He also called on the government to settle the outstanding bills if proven that the electricity consumption is indeed for healthcare delivery purposes.
In a related development, John Jinapor, the ranking member of the Energy Committee of Parliament, disclosed that ECG owes power producers a substantial amount of US$1.5 billion. Jinapor attributed this debt to ECG’s failure to meet payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and its inability to fully settle bills for purchased electricity.
