The management of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has appealed to the Ministry of Health for a tax waiver to clear essential radiotherapy equipment currently held at the port.
The hospital faces a financial hurdle in raising approximately one million Ghana cedis needed to pay the duty for the Water Phantom, a crucial device required for calibrating the Linear Accelerator System used in cancer treatment.
In June this year, doctors in the hospital’s Oncology Department abandoned their consulting rooms in protest over the malfunctioning Linear Accelerator Machine vital for radiotherapy services.
According to the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Otechere Addai-Mensah, while the necessary equipment to resolve the issue has been procured, the cost of clearing it from the port remains a significant challenge. The hospital is currently in discussions with the Ministry of Health to secure the release of the equipment.
“On average Komfo Anokye sees about 1,086 patients, this brings the yearly to around 360,000 so you can imagine the kind of stress on us as a hospital. Our MRI machine has been there for the past 12 years. So, you fix this problem with it and then there is another problem that surfaces.
“You would recall that our Oncology doctors went on strike and it was on the basis of the fact that the Linear Accelerator Machine has not been repaired. We entered into a PPM and we are paying $210,000 a year for the PPM. Immediately we fixed that and then there was a problem with the Water Phantom that was required to calibrate the radiotherapy doses. Now, guess what? They have not been budgeted for.
“The total cost is $10,000. We have paid for that, the equipment is in-house. But we are having to battle with about GHc 1 million by way of duty. We have written for the exemption. Dr Nshiah Asare and the ministry of finance are working very hard at it and I hope that very soon the Water Phantom will be brought to Kumasi and our oncology patients who need radiation therapy would begin receiving them,” he stated.
Professor Addai-Mensah also emphasised the need for urgent measures to equip the hospital’s Renal Unit with additional dialysis machines to prevent a potential shutdown.
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