Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, Chief Executive Officer of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), has disclosed that the majority of the hospital’s services operate at a financial loss.
He explained that the hospital relies on support from other areas to sustain its daily operations and avoid collapse.
During an interview on The Point of View on Channel One TV, hosted by Bernard Avle, Dr. Ampomah emphasised that while the hospital strives to break even, it prioritizes the needs of the poor and vulnerable when setting its charges, ensuring that healthcare remains accessible to all.
“For a lot of the services we actually run at a loss. So, we try and get some support. It’s a way of the philosophy of medicine, in America, medicine is very commercial, so, they charge all the rates and you have to either get insurance or something to pay for it.
He emphasised, “But here, [Ghana], we see medicine as more like a social service, and so, that is the kind of model. So, in most institutions like a teaching hospital in particular, you will be happy to just break even.
“Because at the end of the day, you are treating all kinds of people. You also want to make sure that it’s not out of reach of the poor and vulnerable. That is the balancing that we’re doing.”
