Exempt health institutions from power outages
The most important resource of every nation is its human resource. If this view is widely acknowledged, then there is the real need for the government to make maximum effort to give adequate protection to the human resource in Ghana.
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I have no doubt that the government is doing its best, given the current circumstances. All the same, Cicil Rhodes’ assertion that ‘’so little done, so much to do’’ can be reiterated here.
It is now crystal clear that many of our health institutions in the country are heavily indebted to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as a result of the harsh policy recently introduced by the government that all the health institutions should henceforth use their internally generated funds to settle their electricity bills. The point at stake is that these funds are usually woefully inadequate and cannot therefore be used to settle the bills.
Consequently, the hospital authorities are now in a dilemma as to what to do in order to keep their establishments functioning. So far, it is only one hospital at South Suntreso in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, that has been able to come up with an initiative that every client who visits its facility should pay a token of GH¢5 towards its electricity bill.
Unacceptable initiative
This initiative is very laudable, considering the fact that without such an initiative the facility cannot run smoothly for 24 hours and the ultimate result will be disastrous, yet it is not the best option in my own estimation. I appreciate the fact that the challenges facing the government in respect of the economy are enormous so all our health institutions must be profit-oriented to some extent but the initiative which requires a client to pay a token of GH¢5.00 for electricity bills in hospitals is not and will not be the best option because it is improper.
The point here is that without electricity, the country cannot run any of its vital institutions such as the hospitals, which cater for the health needs of the people of Ghana and this is where the human resource of the country comes into focus. Obviously, it is the human resource which is the centre of all the vital institutions in the country. It is worth noting that all the essential institutions were created or made in the supreme interest of the human resource.
Without the said human resource, all the institutions would not have come into being so they all exist and will continue to exist for the sake of mankind.
From the foregoing, I am of the strong view that the government ought to move heaven and earth to exempt all the health institutions in the country from frequent power outages in order to save the human resource from premature death.
Payment of bills
The government can easily reverse the situation by taking a second and critical look at its recent policy of asking the hospitals to pay electricity bills from their meagre internally generated funds. I do trust that the government will sooner or later fix the power crisis but until the government fixes it, it behoves her to be very mindful of the human resource. The reason being that at the end of the day it is this human resource that will work assiduously to revamp the sinking economy, so on no occasion should the human resource be exchanged for economic gains. Supposing the human resource becomes extinct, who is going to see to the smooth running of the institutions and who is going to enjoy them (institutions)?
The writer is a visually impaired teacher.