The management of the Ho Teaching Hospital has urged the government to revise policies in the health sector immediately.
The hospital is calling for the development of tertiary healthcare and medical tourism policies, among other things, to guide the implementation of the government’s health agenda to fortify the country’s health sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr. John Tampouri, said this when the Parliament Select Committee on Health visited the hospital to have first-hand information on its operations, strengths and constraints.
He explained that these policies would serve as a guideline to identify and propose what should be done to strategically position Ghana as a medical tourism destination on the African continent.
“As it is being planned to go into health tourism, all these things are very crucial, and even if we need to have a policy on health tourism itself and the like, people suggest we need to involve the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and even the Ministry of Tourism. It is a process, but we need to start with the development of this agenda,” he said.
The medical tourism initiative seeks to improve the country’s health sector, where the needed logistics and human resources would be provided to enable it to generate foreign exchange.
The Ho Teaching Hospital had already begun acquiring the necessary international documentation, investing in infrastructure expansion, logistics and human capacity building.
It has constructed infrastructure for a 24-pharmacy service and established CT scans, dialysis, and family health centres.
It has also embarked on an expansion of the emergency unit, in partnership with MTN Foundation.
Additionally, a new facility is under construction to absorb the increasing clientele of the hospital.
The Parliamentary Health Committee, after inspecting these projects, lauded the hospital’s zeal to attain the status of an actual medical tertiary teaching facility.
The Member of Parliament for Garu, Dr. Thomas Winsum Anabah, applauded a move to finance the education of some staff and infrastructure development with the hospital’s internally generated funds.
“One thing that they have started implementing even before the government came up with its manifesto on health tourism is that they have started planning it already, and they have already had a blueprint on how they are going to execute their health tourism. Health tourism is something that we all know. It brings billions of dollars to countries. If they can start it here, then there will be a centre for other facilities to come and emulate their practice and take it back.”
He added that the committee would recommend to the government to support the hospital to reduce the financial burden on the health facility.
The committee identified a lack of essential caregivers, inadequate infrastructure and human resources to provide advanced clinical care, medical education and research as major setbacks of the Ho Teaching Hospital.
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