Ideal Financial Holdings, a leading financial company, has presented a cheque of over GH¢20,000 to the Accident Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The donation is to clear the bills of five patients who have been treated and discharged but could not leave the facility due to financial constraints.
The patients, some of whom have been discharged as far back as August 2015, expressed their joy upon hearing the news and thanked Ideal Financial Holdings for the kind support.
Group Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Financial Holdings, Dr. Nii Kotei Dzani, said this was an initiative to help the less privileged and also pave way for more space at hospitals.
“One of our values is caring and each and every day we look for means to care for people who need such care. I am alarmed at how much individuals owe hospitals in this country.
“We appreciate how difficult it is to operate a hospital because you have to acquire equipment, drugs and input regularly. We want to know what you need and see how best we can help, not just as Ideal Financial Holdings, but to draw the general public’s attention and lead a campaign to clear hospitals of people who have been treated and discharged but cannot be let go because they are owing,” he said.
Dr. Dzani added that patients who have been treated and discharged but cannot leave have become a burden economically on hospitals. This situation he says is worrisome and as such the company is looking at ways to collaborate with Korle Bu to put a stop to such challenges.
Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Gilbert Buckle, expressed his gratitude and urged them to keep up the good work.
“Your coming here is timely and a beacon of hope where a lot of us are concerned that nobody cares anymore or you have to be affected by it to have a responsibility. I want to thank you as a person and a corporate body who have gone beyond the bottom line.”
He also urged other bodies to inculcate the good habits of Ideal Finance and support social initiatives.
“It costs us more keeping these patients than letting them go so now the practice is: for 24 to 48hours when we establish that this individual cannot pay, we discharge them and let social welfare do due diligence and hope and pray that the individual will be honest and come back and pay,” Dr. Buckle said.
He added that the hospital is about establishing a Trust Fund, to be administered as a separate public entity, to attract donations to support such deeds.
“We do know and believe that there are good people out there who will support us in what we want to do. Due to issues of patient confidentiality, we cannot expose what happens here out there. It infringes on people’s rights to privacy so the best we hope for is when people request to see what is happening and then proceed to support,” he concluded.
By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citifmonline.com/Ghana