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The Ministry of Health has vowed to clamp down on the activities of health workers at the various hospitals who exploit pregnant women who access antenatal care.



According the Ministry, such perpetrators will not escape punishment when found to have been culpable in such unethical behaviours.

The threat by the Ministry of Health comes on the heels of an investigative work by Kasapa FM’s Francisca Emefa Enchill, which revealed that there was rot in some health institutions that put impediments in the way of poor pregnant women who seek healthcare.

Her work took her to the Kaneshie Polyclinic, La General Hospital, formerly La Polyclinic, and Amanfrom Health Centre, located near Kasoa in the Central Region, which are patronised by mainly poor women.

Though the Ghana Health Service has made antenatal service free of charge, it was established that the health centres were engaged in extortions in the form of charging illegal fees without receipts.

On a first visit to the antenatal unit of the Amanfrom Health Centre, for instance, the health centre issued a maternal health record book, which is a nine-page photocopy of the original red-coloured record book stapled together.

Just a handful of patients visiting this health centre are given the original book for GH¢ 6.00, while majority of the pregnant patients are given the photocopies for GH¢ 5.00, the excuse being that the centre had run out of copies of the original book.

After paying for these books, pregnant women go to a health worker who sits at a table to check vitals. After checking the vitals, the pregnant women are asked to drop GH¢ 1.00 into a cardboard box placed on the table without any reason given to them.

“Put GH¢ 1.00 in the box” is all they say to the patients. They are then asked to buy plastic containers for GH¢ 1.00 to get urine samples. At least with the Amanfrom Health Centre, washrooms are not paid for.

The patients then go to the consultation room, where they pay another GH¢ 1.00 for the paper stick test kit to be used to run a test on the urine samples. A blood test on haemoglobin and HIV AIDS is run on each patient using test kits and then they are asked to pay GH¢ 10.00 for those tests.

Speaking to Kasapa FM, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Mr Robert Cudjoe, said the Ministry takes a serious view of the infractions and would deal with the situation immediately.

”These nation wreckers will be dealt with ruthlessly when they’re found out because they cannot continue to go against the laid-down regulations set by the government. If certain services have been made free of charge to lessen the burden on patients, no health worker has the power to charge fees. The Ministry will crack the whip against anybody found culpable, such actions will not be countenanced,” he stated.