The Health Minister designate, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, has announced plans to secure funding for hospital electricity bills to prevent disconnections.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had previously issued notices to 91 hospitals with outstanding bills, threatening to disconnect them from the national grid if payments were not made.
Prior to this, the Ministry of Health (MoH) had directed all government health facilities to use Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to pay their electricity bills starting June 1, 2023.
Speaking at the Health Sector Annual Summit 2024 on May 15, Dr. Okoe-Boye acknowledged that the directive had caused difficulties for some health facilities. “Public hospitals in Ghana are struggling to pay their electricity bills. Health service providers have particularly lamented that 40 percent of their revenue is being used to cover these costs.”
He further stated that the Health Ministry is taking measures to support government hospitals in paying their electricity bills.
“The Electricity Company of Ghana issued demand notices to 91 hospitals with outstanding bills, warning of disconnection if they failed to pay. We have had discussions with the Ministry of Finance, and the government has arranged to provide relief to these hospitals.
Going forward, we are working on measures to ensure efficient energy use in our hospitals,” he added.