The Consumer Protection Agency(CPA) has threatened a court action if the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang -Manu and the Health Ministry does not intervene to halt certain practices at some public hospitals across the country, which they described as inimical to the interest of consumers.
According to the CPA, the hospitals including the 37 Military Hospital, and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital are resulting to illegal means of taking monies from patients.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Kofi Kapito at a Presser in Accra issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Ministry to stop such levies from being collected, else they’ll seek redress in court.
“You cannot do an illegality in a country like Ghana. You go to a hospital, for crying out loud, then you’re asked to pay. The excuse is because they need to maintain. If they need to maintain it, do you know where they should start to look at? Get that Land Cruiser from the Chief Executive Officer and sell that Land cruiser.
“Nobody in their right mind should even think they have the power to levy without being approved by parliament. I am giving the Minister of Health 21 days as I gave to the Judicial Service. If this practice is not stopped, they’ll see me in court, because nobody is allowed to do an illegal act. If I go to a private institution and the man says that is what his law says I understand. But the funny thing is even the private institutions are not doing that, so why should a public institution do that?
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