Health ministry releases "GH¢420,000" to Accra Psychiatric Hospital
The Ministry of Health has released a sum of GH¢300,000 and GH¢ 120,000 worth of drugs to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital following a strike by nurses at the facility over the poor working conditions at the facility.
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The Hospital however needs about GH¢7m to operate but the Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia said the amount which was released on Wednesday is expected to help run the facility till the end of the year and that more would be made available by the end of the week.
“We have made some funding available with more to follow by the end of the week, we’ve also made pharmaceuticals available with more to follow and we are on top of the issue currently. We gave a cheque of GH¢300, 000 yesterday but we have gone out ourselves and bought drugs to the tune of about GH¢120, 000,” Mr Segbefia said on Accra-based Citi FM on Thursday.
“We’ve also given some foodstuffs because even though people donated food, there was a lack of protein, so we were able to give a one month consignment of frozen fish which was collected first thing yesterday morning. So, both on the food side, the pharmaceuticals side and the consumables which we are dealing with today, all things should be back to normal to cover them till at least the budget is read again till February,” he added.
Read also: Accra Psychiatric nurses strike over dangerous working environment
Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has ordered the striking nurses to return to work.
The directive follows a meeting the Commission had on Wednesday with the Minister of Health, representatives of the nurses and authorities of the hospital.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Charles Adongo Bawaduah, the nurses breached the labour laws by failing to notify the NLC before embarking on the strike.
