KATH forced to detain patients over unpaid bills, worsening congestion

The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has disclosed that it is compelled to keep hundreds of patients admitted longer than medically required because they are unable to settle their hospital bills, a situation hospital authorities say is worsening congestion and straining already limited resources.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo, unpaid bills leave management with little option but to retain patients who are medically fit for discharge, as releasing them without payment exposes the hospital to accountability challenges.

“There are a lot of people you wish they could go outside because once they are here, they occupy your bed. You need to feed them. Sometimes they are here for several days or weeks, but you cannot just say, ‘Get up and go,’” Dr Baidoo said.

He stressed that while the situation places a heavy financial burden on the hospital, management cannot resort to inhumane practices.

“You cannot say, ‘Because you are not paying your bill, give me the bed; sleep on the floor. That is not human. But that contributes to some of the congestion we have in the hospital,” he added.

Dr Baidoo explained that the delayed discharge of patients has direct implications for daily operations, particularly emergency care and surgical services. He noted that when beds remain occupied by patients who are medically fit for discharge, new patients are unable to be transferred from emergency units to the wards.

“When you come, you see we render a lot of services—from emergency. Some may go to the theatre; some may from there go to the ward. But if you need to be sent to the ward, meanwhile the bed you are going to occupy is already occupied by somebody, it means that we cannot send you to the ward,” he said.

He further indicated that the backlog affects theatre services and recovery units, resulting in delayed surgeries and increased pressure on critical care spaces.

Dr Baidoo was speaking during an engagement with the Ashanti Business Association, aimed at mobilising support to help settle the bills of patients who are medically cleared but unable to pay.

He emphasised that the hospital is required to account for every service rendered, noting that discharging patients without payment exposes management to scrutiny from oversight bodies.

“Every service rendered here ought to be accounted for. Sometimes we wish we could just tell them, ‘Get up and go home.’ But once you do that, the next moment you will be at the Public Accounts Committee to answer why patients were managed and never paid their bills,” he said.

The KATH CEO also pointed to the hospital’s national appeal as a factor compounding congestion, noting that patients from across the country continue to seek care at the facility because of the specialised services it offers.

“Recently, one of the ministers of health called, and we were wondering if everybody in their region would want to come to Komfo Anokye even though Accra is closer, because of the services we render and how patient we are in accommodating,” he said.

Hospital authorities say the prolonged detention of patients due to unpaid bills has led to severe congestion, limited bed availability, delayed surgeries, and mounting pressure on the hospital’s finances and supplier payments, significantly affecting overall service delivery.