Mothers complain about non-compliance of Free Maternal Care
Some nursing mothers in the Ho municipality have expressed concerns over what they described as the non-compliance of the Free Maternal Health Care policy by the various health facilities in the municipality.
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According to them, the facilities in the municipality allegedly demanded a mandatory non-refundable deposit of GH¢100 from mothers on admission with their babies at the Baby’s Ward of the various health facilities before they were attended to.
A passionate appeal made to the Ho Municipal Assembly became part of discussions at the second ordinary meeting of the assembly on Monday where officials of the Volta Regional Health Directorate had been invited to explain the reason behind the practice.
Explanation
In separate remarks, officials from the public health office of the directorate who honoured the invitation on behalf of the regional health director explained that they were not aware that some facilities were charging the said fees, and indicated that they would conduct further investigation into the issue.
They said the Ho Municipal Hospital, which was identified to be involved in the practice, had since stopped charging such amount after they were directed to do so.
They, however, said due to high cost of utility tariffs, the facilities had instituted some levies to assist the payment of these utility bills.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs Fafa Adinyira, stated that the assembly received the information last year and had followed up to the municipal office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for an explanation.
Complaints
She said her outfit was informed by the NHIA office that they had also received complaints and had even written to the medical director of the Volta Regional Hospital where similar demands were being made to suspend the payment of the GH¢100.00 deposit.
According to her as of June the practice was still ongoing in some health facilities.
She pointed out that, her fear was that mothers, especially those on referral from the rural areas who could not afford the deposit, would take their babies away and this could expose the babies to great danger.
She has thus appealed to the regional health directorate to, as a matter of urgency, conduct further investigations and suspend the charges, since they were defeating the objective of the free maternal health policy.