Mixed reaction as President Mahama gets one year in office

Some Ghanaians on Wednesday expressed their dis-satisfaction about the Mahama administration, saying the year 2013 under his tenure has been a very difficult one. They contended that all spheres of life had been extremely difficult, due the tight fiscal policy of government which has slowed down economic activities. Assessing the President on his first year in office as far as the health sector is concerned, Afia Serwaaa a trader, said for her, nothing has changed in the sector. She said though the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was still operational, some health facilities she visited in the course of the year still found ways of taking huge sums of money for service delivery under the guise of the NHIS not covering some services and diseases. Mr Kwabena Ackom, a banker said apart from the NHIS, he has a personnel health insurance plan that augment the NHIS and so he had nothing to worry about, except for the deteriorating infrastructure and the use of obsolete equipment in some public health facilities. Agnes Inkoom, a teacher, admitted that though the President's first year had been extremely difficult, she was hopeful that his second year would see a better and efficient health system. The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Korle �Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Mustapha Saifu said the year 2013 which happened to be the first year of President Mahama's administration, saw the re-tooling of the hospital under the National Equipment Replacement Project. The PRO said under the A 52-million-dollar project, of which KBTH is a beneficiary, the hospital can boast of 13 new elevators, the rehabilitation of 13 out 23 theatres, and the installations of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scan equipment. He said general wards facilities such as beds and theatre equipment have also been replaced, and .KBTH now has its own oxygen plant, a new kitchen and a laundry, adding that those achievements took place in 2013 which happened to be within the president's first year in office. According to him, some of the challenges the hospital faced, included the re-scheduling of surgeries due to the re-tooling exercise, and the inconveniences it caused the public, non-payment of salaries of new nurses which brought about some demonstrations. The face-lift is expected to bring some relief to patients, he said.