Korle-Bu erred in abrogating Unibank contract - Health Minister
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu says the management of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) did not inform him before terminating a revenue collection contract with Unibank, which to him was against good corporate governance.
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Decisions of such nature are supposed to be approved by the board of the hospital and in absence of a board, the sector Minister should be informed for approval.
Since Korle Bu currently has no board, the management should have sought approval from the Minister of Health, according to Mr Agyemang-Manu.
Speaking on the matter in a radio interview with Accra based Joy FM Monday morning, Mr Agyemang-Manu said he heard about the matter after the hospital had terminated the contract with the bank.
The management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in a statement explained that Unibank’s compatibility shortcomings with the End-to-End Hospital Revenue Collection Software was leading to revenue losses, hence the decision to terminate the contract.
Responding, however, UniBank has said it was not treated fairly by the management of hospital.
Mr Agyeman-Manu in the Joy FM interview said he was not comfortable with the CEO's decision to terminate the contract with Unibank without seeking board or ministerial approval.
“After Dr Anyah’s appointment, I told him I was in consultation with the president to get the board for the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital but told him since the facility cannot be allowed to sit down without working, if there is any major decision concerning the running of the hospital, he should consult me”, Mr Agyeman-Manu said.
He said “upon hearing that he [CEO] has terminated the Unibank contract, I called him … I was very, very much not comfortable with the fact that he was doing that thing on the blind side of a minister, who is the authority to have actually discussed the matter”.
He said he questioned the CEO on the basis for terminating the contract and its impact on corporate governance at the hospital since the hospital could be dragged to court over the issue.
He said he asked the CEO to rescind the decision to abrogate the contract and interrogate the issues further..
Adding, the Minister said he demanded for a report on the issue in relation to the compatibility of Unibank’s software and that of the hospital.
The Minister indicated although he also asked the CEO to send him a report on the issue and what the hospital was doing about the termination matter, the CEO never sent him the report but went ahead to award the contract to another bank, Stanbic bank.