The Interim Management Committee of the
Addressing the media at a short ceremony to officially open the UGMC to the general public a member of the Interim Management Committee Dr Osei said they would have agreed on their charges by the end of 2 weeks.
“In fact from now till the end of the month we are doing it the ‘guinea pig style’, we are not charging fees. So we will have people seen without paying any charges.”
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He added that the services rendered at the hospital will only be free for the first 2 weeks of operations starting today (July 18, 2018).
When asked if the facility will accept the National Health Insurance Card and other private health cards, Dr Osei said that they are also finalising that.
“But the NHIA also we are speaking to them on some special tariffs. We have written to them, we are having a meeting with them to negotiate special tariffs. I think most tertiary institutions have this special arrangement.”
He, however, added that “we need time to go through all of these processes,” and encouraged the general public to be patient.
The UG Medical Centre has been in the news often for various reasons which include the tussle between the University of Ghana authorities and the government over who manages the facility.
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The facility which was constructed by the erstwhile John Mahama became the centre of agitation and attention for some time in the media.
The facility was scheduled to open in November 2017 but was kept locked to the public due to a tussle between the Minister of Health and the University of Ghana over who manages the $217 million facility.
The government subsequently set up the interim board to operationalise the facility.
The centre is expected to begin with the operationalization of phase one, with about 30 medical staff.
Currently, the facility will only attend to referral patients at the Out Patient Department OPD from other satellite health facilities.
Cabinet has already approved $50 million for the second phase of the centre.