The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called for a dedicated emergency care fund financed through National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) allocations and vehicle insurance premiums, alongside a nationwide electronic hospital bed management system.
The proposals were among seven measures unveiled on Sunday, November 8, at the end of the GMA’s 68th Annual General Conference, as the association sought a coordinated response to Ghana’s persistent “no-bed syndrome”.
The recommendations follow President John Dramani Mahama’s warning that hospitals charging NHIS patients additional fees would face sanctions. He has also directed that emergency units be expanded at four major hospitals.
GMA General Secretary Dr Richard Selormey told JoyNews that hospitals needed a guaranteed source of reimbursement when treating critically ill patients.
He proposed redirecting part of the NHIS inflows and assigning a percentage of private vehicle insurance premiums to emergency treatment and ambulance transfers.
“Patients who require emergency care must receive the necessary treatment, with hospitals assured that the fund will reimburse them. This will ensure that patients are not burdened with financial barriers when seeking emergency care,” Selormey said.
He added that the association was prepared to assist the government in developing the funding mechanism.
Speaking at a press conference following the conference, GMA President Professor Ernest Yorke recognised work by the Ministry of Health to reduce the number of patients being turned away. However, he said individual initiatives would not resolve the wider problem.
“While the GMA acknowledges some commendable efforts by the Ministry of Health to mitigate the No Bed Syndrome, there’s a need to move from fragmented interventions to a coordinated reform that directs every medical patient: how care is accessed, stabilised and transferred appropriately without any financial barriers,” Yorke said.
Electronic bed tracking system
The GMA wants the pilot national electronic hospital bed management system extended to all health facilities across the country.
Its plan also calls for hospital bed management teams with the authority and resources to coordinate patient transfers between facilities.
The association said hospitals should increase their physical bed capacity and introduce spillover arrangements for periods when wards are full. It also recommended multidisciplinary, hospital-wide patient-flow systems to reduce delays in treatment and transfers.
The remaining proposals focus on emergency preparedness and accountability within the health service.
They include improving pre-hospital ambulance operations, training emergency medical technicians and providing district hospitals with essential emergency and diagnostic equipment.
The GMA also called for fair accountability measures in cases involving poor staff attitudes, while urging the health authorities to strengthen preparedness for Ebola virus disease.
