National Health Insurance Authority collapses Apam Catholic Hospital

Authorities at the Apam Catholic Hospital have appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), managers of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to settle its bills with the hospital, to save it from collapse.
“ They haven’t paid us for the past six months. Because of this, we are running out of stock, and the hospital is on the verge of collapse. Most of the medicines are not there, and that has forced us to prescribe for the patients to buy,” noted Dr. Ebenezer Amekah, Acting Medical Supt, Apam Hospital, in an interview with The Chronicle.
This was after an executive team from General Electrics (GE), made up of the African American Forum (AAF), had paid a familiarisation tour of the hospital over the weekend, to inspect medical equipments and machinery it provided the hospital sometime ago.
The NHIA is believed to be indebted to the Apam Catholic Hospital to a tune of GH¢80,000 for medical services it provided to patients under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The situation is said to be having a adverse effect on the hospital, looking at the numerous communities the hospital is serving.
Established in 1959, Apam Hospital is the only hospital serving the people of the Gomoa West and East Districts.
But, authorities of the hospital say, in spite of the huge financial gap, they would still go ahead to provide free medical services to patients under the scheme.
“We will continue to manage with the limited resources at our disposal,” Dr. Amekah told The Chronicle.
The hospital is also said to be faced with acute water shortages, and has to depend on water tanker supplies provided by General Electric (GE).
But, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Gomoa West, Mr. Theophilus Adu Mensah, told the paper that plans were far advanced to address the water situation that has plagued the entire Apam community.
According to him, the district has already secured pipes from funds it raised in the various communities under the district, and would soon lay them to enable the people enjoy potable drinking water.
He pledged his outfit’s continuous support to the Apam Catholic Hospital and other institutions to foster growth in the region.
Mr. Mensah however assured the delegation that his office would work enormously to waive taxes on equipments imported to support the district in its development.
In 2005, the Apam Catholic Hospital was put on a GE program by then Director General of the Ghana Health Services, Professor Agyemang Badu Akosah, to receive medical equipment support.
In 2006, the hospital was supplied with a standby generator, an overhead water reservoir, X-ray machine, incubator, body warmer machine, as well as internet facility.
Since the introduction of the medical equipment, authorities of the hospital say healthcare delivery has improved significantly, with more referrals coming into the hospital cue to better health delivery.

AMEYAW EKUMFI DISMISSES ALLEGATIONS OF LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

The former Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi, has refuted allegations over the lack of transparency in the procurement of two Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) commuter trains that was awarded to Amandi Holdings, an Israeli-based firm in the country. “Procurement was done properly.

It went through due process and received approval by the Procurement Board,” he noted. Prof. Ekumfi was reacting to some media publications that alleged lack of transparency in the procurement of the DMUs by Amandi Holdings Limited, which was awarded the contract by the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways. According to the former Minister, although some companies had in the past assisted his outfit in securing funds for numerous projects by the ministry, it never swindled any of them in the award of the procurement of the two DMUs. In explaining how his outfit got in touch with V. D. Swami and Company Limited, Professor Ekumfi said the company was initially supposed to provide the Ministry with coaches using an Indian facility, but because his outfit didn't agree with their specifications, a financial facility (amount not quoted) approved to execute a number of projects by the Ministry was never released by the Indian government, after initially granting the ministry a US$13million loan facility, hence the intervention of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, with HIPC-sourced funds. “Swami was initially to provide the ministry with coaches, using an Indian facility, but because we didn't agree with their specifications, we didn't get the facility. That is the reason why the Ministry of Finance came to our rescue to finance the project locally. For you to use that facility, you need to use an Indian company. When we got US$13million from the Indian Government, we had already agreed that this cannot be produced by an Indian company. We had also gone through the process to get Amandi Holdings to produce the commuter train,” he said. According to him, the US$13 million loan facility, granted to the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways, was used to procure other rehabilitation items to revamp the railways sector. Touching on why V. D. Swami and Company Limited was refused the contract, the former minister said his outfit was nearly deceived by the company in awarding the contract to them, but after detecting some foul play, had to refuse them with the contract. “Swami almost deceived us. We provided them with draft specifications, but they came back after making adjustments in those specifications. We got to know that when our people had identified that they'd changed a few things. The most significant one was the speed in delivery. It was going to crawl, and we said that no, we are not going to accept this arrangement. You get us the money, only to provide us with sub-standard coaches,” noted Prof. Akumfi. On why Angelique International Limited also failed in the tender process, Prof. Akumfi said that company also provided specifications which were far below the expectations of the Railways Company. Prof. Ekumfi also refuted allegations that he lobbied for funds intended for a water project for the procurement of the commuter train, and advised anyone who was not clear about the whole process, to go to the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways to crosscheck their facts. On March 26th, 2009, two Diesel Multiple Units (commuter trains), meant for the country, were shipped at the Tianjin seaport by the manufacturer, China Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (CNR) Tangshan Railway Vehicle Company Limited, on board a Beluga Sky Sails Vessel. It arrived in the country the following month, May 24th, 2009 as scheduled. This was after a short ceremony held in CNR Tangshan, of which the President of AMD, Ghana, the Vice-Mayor of Tangshan city and Vice-President of the CNR were present. The DMU is composed of 2M +4T. It has a seating capacity of 616 (each coach has 104 seating capacity) with a design speed of 80 Km/h. The specifications are as follows: Cars per unit 2M+4T Wheel arrangement Bo-Bo Transmission AC/AC Rated output per motor 150 kW Design speed 80 km/h Weight per car Mc48.3, T39.5 t Seating capacity per car Mc40,T134 Length per car Mc17,800,T17,200 mm Customer Ghana AMD Track gauge 1,000 mm The Ghana Railways Company has for the past three decades been struggling on its feet to catch up with time, but as each day passes by, the company's situation keeps on deteriorating. The importation of these DMUs has therefore been hailed by many as a step in the right direction by the government in its bid to revamp the ailing company. The DMUs are commuter trains that would ply the Accra-Tema rail lines when commissioned.
Source: Stephen Odoi-Larbi - Ghanaian Chronicle

Kofi Annan Center Guzzles Gh¢850k Yearly

Investigations conducted by The Chronicle into the operations of the Advanced Information Technology Institute of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (AITI-KACE) has revealed that the institute is running at a loss of GH¢ 500,000.00 annually.The Centre, which was established in 2003 and became operational in 2004, has an annual expenditure of GH¢ 850,000.00 (including emoluments) against an annual income of GH¢350,000.00.This development, The Chronicle learnt, is weighing heavily on the economy since the financial assistance from the India government has also seized to flow without any reason.As a result of this, the performance of the Centre is below average in meeting its stated objectives of increasing students’ enrolment to 1,200 by end of 2009, increase revenue base to US$1,000,000.00 by the end 2009 and to explore the potentials of six institutions-two from the Economic Community of West African States for Information Communication Technology training whilst entering into partnership in 2009.Since its inception, no strategic plans have been set for the centre to operate on.At a recent visit by the Minister of Communications, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, to the prestigious AITI-KACE, he stated that “the attrition rate at the centre was uncalled for” and needed intervention. The Chronicle also gathered that staff moral at the Centre is low and most staff that were trained abroad by the Centre from government treasury have all left without any apparent reason.Mrs. Dorothy K. Gordon, the Managing Director of the center, when contacted rather requested for the source of the information and declined to comment on the story when the reporter refused to disclose the source. She directed the reporter to talk to the Ministry of Communications since she is only an employee of the Government of Ghana.“You will have to give me the source of that information because everybody is entitled to their opinion. I cannot really comment on this story and I will suggest that you call the Ministry of Communications which will be in a better place to comment on this”.“I am officially giving you no comment on it. If you wish to run the story and say you’ve done an investigation and this is what you arrived at, that will be your opinion. I repeat, I am not going to comment on the story. I am only an employee of the Government of Ghana”, she told the paper.

Each Ghanaian Owes $350

Ghana's estimated population currently stands at 22 million people. Out of this population, each Ghanaian owes US$350 to the country's creditors, both internally and externally, as against $359 in 2008.
Ghana's total public debt has declined slightly from US$7,918.1 million, a 54.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008, to US$7.742.4 million, representing 49.2 per cent of GDP for the first quarter of 2009.
Out of this figure (US$7.742.4m), the stock of domestic debt, which stood at GH¢4,778.1 million at the end of last year (2008), increased to GH¢5,083.5 million, representing 23.7 per cent of GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
External debt also stood at US$4,010.2 million at the end of the first quarter of this year (March 2009), up from US$3, 982.6 million (28.1 per cent of GDP) at the end of last year (2008).
This was made known by the Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Paul Acquah, at a press briefing in Accra yesterday.
According to him, provisional banking data on fiscal operations during the first quarter of 2009 indicate that domestic revenue growth continued to be strong at a slower pace than it was at same time the previous year (2008).
Ghana's total revenue and grants for the first quarter of 2009, amounted to GH¢1,308.1 million, representing 6.1 per cent of GDP, compared with GH¢1,129.2 million (6.4 per cent) for the same period in 2008.
"This was however, higher than the historical average of 5.8 per cent of GDP between 2004 and 2008," Dr. Paul Acquah noted.
Dr. Paul Acquah observed that total revenue and grants in year on year terms, increased by 15.8 per cent, compared with 11.0 per cent recorded in 2008.
Grants to the country amounted to GH¢244.3 million (1.1 per cent of GDP) in the first quarter of 2009, as against GH¢225.5 million (1.3 per cent of GDP) recorded for the same period in 2008.
This means the country, in the first quarter of 2009, saw an increase of GH¢18.8 million in grants, as compared to the same period last year.
Ghana's total expenditure, excluding foreign financed capital expenditure for the first quarter of 2009, amounted to GH¢1,249.2 million, representing 5.8 per cent of GDP, compared with GH¢1,265.3 million (7.2 per cent of GDP) for the same period in 2008.
Wages and salaries amounted to GH¢558.5 million, compared with GH¢549.1 million for the same period in 2008.
According to Dr. Paul Acquah, the fiscal operations during the first quarter in 2009, resulted in a deficit of GH¢194.7 million, a 0.9 per cent of GDP (excluding foreign financed capital expenditure), compared with a deficit of GH¢275.6 million for the same period in 2008.
Dr. Acquah said the deficit of GH¢194.7, in addition to a foreign loan repayment of GH¢48.7 million were financed from domestic sources to the tune of GH¢243.4 million, representing 1.1 per cent of GDP.

Obsolete equipment thwarting power supply in Ghana –GRIDCO

Recent power outages in the country have been linked to overaged and worn-out equipment in the transmission network, according to the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO), the main operator of the entire power system.
The power system in the country comprises; generating system, transmission system and distribution system, which GRIDCO contends that any problem with these systems may affect power supply to the consumer.
With four major power stations at Akosombo, Kpong, Aboadze and Tema, that supply about 4500 km of high voltage transmission lines across the country, GRIDCO said its power network was often faced with numerous challenges which include overloaded facilities, due to inability to increase capacity to match demand, system security and the use of AFLS, and the lack of spare parts to replace worn-out equipment.
At a press briefing on the state of the national power system in Accra recently, GRIDCO noted that it had outlined some activities to improve upon its systems performance and reliability, by reducing the effects of some of its challenges in the transmission network.
Officials of the company said the construction of transmission lines between Kumasi and Obuasi, Aboadze and Tema would be completed in July and at the end of the year respectively, whilst that of the Accra 3rd Bulk Supply Point at Agyirigano, would also be completed by the end of the year 2010.
The company said it would double the capacity of the Mallam substation to improve power supply to Accra West by the end of the year. It also gave assurance of the completion of the Kumasi 2nd Bulk Supply Point in 2011.
GRIDCO said it would make replacements of all equipment at the Volta and Akosombo switching stations, in order to improve on its services to the nation.
It however promised to ensure theh continuous maintenance and operation of the National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS), even under difficult conditions, whilst it would ensure timely completion of its planned projects, aimed at improving on its transmission system.

GIA initiates move to develop Ghana properly-calls for harmonisation in built environment

The Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) has called for the harmonisation of all regulatory bodies and other stakeholders in the built environment into one umbrella, for the effective implementation of policies and the planning of the cities and towns in the country.
Currently, there are twenty two (22) regulatory institutions/agencies and other stakeholders in the built environment, but the GIA contends that their performance over the years has not been satisfactory, and therefore not conforming to the country’s poverty reduction strategy.
“Each of them has a role to play in the built environment of the country as mandated by law, but none of them has performed as expected. The situation regarding the built environment in Ghana today does not seem to satisfy the tenets of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), nor the common sense approach,” noted Kwame Osei Agyemang, President of the GIA.
This was made known in Accra last Thursday at a press soiree organised by the GIA, to share with the public its findings in a research conducted into the built environment of the country. The research project was dubbed, “Addressing the adverse impact of non-enforcement of building and development controls.”
The development of the built environment has been guided overtime by a number of laws, some of which are the Town and Country Planning Ordinance (CAP 84) promulgated in 1945 and updated within the period 1954-1960, the National Building Regulations (LI 1630), 1996, the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462), the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, and many other supporting laws, bye-laws and codes, most of which have not seen any major review over the time period.
Despite the existence and implementation of the above-mentioned regulations, the built environment was deteriorating at an alarming rate, especially within the urban centers, and also a number of rural communities which have experienced increased population growth.
To this end, the GIA says the regulatory institutions/agencies and other stakeholders in the built environment, needed backing to effectively perform in the discharge of their duties, and therefore proposed to the Government of Ghana (GoG) to accelerate the synchronisation of all the regulatory bodies under one umbrella.
“When they come under one umbrella, they will have a common vision and purpose in the development of the country,” noted the GIA President.
Regulators and other stakeholders in the built environment include the Town and Country Planning Departments, the Land Title Registry Department, the Department of Urban Roads, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Factory Inspectorate Division, the Environmental Health Department and the Public Works Department (PWD).
The rest are Ministry of Works and Housing, Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the telecommunications industry, Energy Commission, Water Resources Commission, National Petroleum Authority, Ghana Tourist Board, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Professional Bodies of the Built Environment.
The eight (8) page document states that the problem of inadequate enforcement of the Ghana Building Regulations (LI 1630) and other development controls, has adversely affected the urban and rural landscape in the country.
According to the GIA, the perceived non-enforcement of the controls and regulations was also reflected in the quality of the built environment, which is characterised by the development of unplanned settlements, slum development and the disregard of planning and zoning schemes.
“This has resulted in the haphazard and amorphous infrastructural development, facilitating flooding and the collapse of buildings,” noted the report. According to the report, the disregard for planning schemes had further led to the sprawl of uncontrolled development of both urban and sub-urban areas, which it said, had contributed to the enormous pressure on the distribution of infrastructural services like water, electricity, road networks and poor accessibility.
The report stated: “The situation has created an upward surge in mixed development, which in certain instances, has a negative impact on health, and is often hazardous to life.”
The report therefore recommended that there should be harmonisation of the procedures for the Building and Development Control to develop one standard set of regulations for the assemblies to operate with.
That the Government of Ghana (GoG) should endeavour to create a one-stop-shop to house all stakeholders for the building and development control procedures for easy implementation.
That the various assemblies should indicate a deadline to query revisions to forestall delays, and these should be communicated to clients. That computerisation of all assemblies, involving every drawing submission for building and development control, to ensure proper record keeping of files/archival management.
That, until the laws are harmonised, and clear cut roles and responsibilities redefined, District Chief Executives (DCE’s) should not sign permitting approval documentation.
That, the GoG should endeavour to make it statutory for a periodic review of the National Building Regulations, LI 1630.
That, Chiefs/Landowners should be sensitised on development, and this should be included under the current advocacy programme being implemented by the GIA, and the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund.
The report further recommended that there should be structural plans for all major cities in the country, which should be implemented to the letter, with enforcement and penalties.
That Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies should be encouraged to acquire properties after the expiration of leases, to ensure good correlation between
planning schemes and policy.
That the Assemblies, together with stakeholders within the built environment, should be mandated to develop a vision for the development of all cities/towns/villages in the country.
That, Regulations/Laws should have dependencies which will enforce all developers to conform
That, small plot development should not be encouraged in the development of the Central Spine/Core area, and this should be backed by law/regulation. That, the GoG/Assemblies should be encouraged to implement holistic settlement designs against the habit of dealing with individual building plots development, which provides comprehensive solutions for sanitation and drainage among others, and that the GoG should set up an oversight body, under the National Development and Planning Commission (NDPC) to oversee physical development.
The GIA however encouraged the GoG to build a Police Force to ensure that building does not commence without a permit.

Again! Kufuor's New BMW Seized At Port for 'Wrong Procedure in Clearing'

The National Security has impounded a seven series BMW customized car, which was imported into the country by former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
According to sources, the vehicle was impounded at Safe Bond, one of the warehouses at Tema Harbour, around 10am on Monday, upon a tip off. A National Security source, which confirmed the seizure said his outfit had mounted surveillance at the Tema Port throughout the weekend, after being informed that the former President had ordered three customized cars, and that one of them would arrive into the country over the weekend.
He said though the car did arrive, the importer managed to elude them.
Chronicle gathered that some operatives of National Security chanced upon some people who had gathered around a car yesterday, and murmuring to each other that "this is former President Kufuor's vehicle", "this is Omanpanin dada's car".
That drew their attention to the scene, and they radioed for cross checking and moved in quickly to impound it.
The security source noted that had the former President done the right thing by passing through the correct procedure at the National Security, the State Protocol would have done the clearing for him, but he would now have to wait for directives from the hierarchy of National Security.
"The right thing should be done at the right time. We shouldn't be repeating things all over. It doesn't augur well for the country", the security source said.
Mr. Frank Agyekum, Spokesperson for ex-President Kuffuor, when reached on his mobile phone said he had no knowledge about the President's impounded car, he answered incredulously.