The exorbitant expense of receiving excellent treatment from health facilities has resulted in a high prevalence rate of self-medication among Ghanaians, according to Mr. Samuel Boakye Donkor, Vice President, Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana, on Thursday.
He pointed out that the government, through the National Health Insurance Scheme, sometimes delayed payment of claims to service providers, forcing private health institutions to charge patients or clients before providing services.
As a result, people who cannot afford to pay their exorbitant costs, along with the stress that comes with it, stay at home and resort to self-medication, exacerbating their problems.
Mr. Donkor remarked this during a panel discussion on the "Healthcare Industry in Africa and Access to Finance," which was held in conjunction with the current West Africa Pharma and Healthcare Exhibition in Accra.
He decried the paucity of funding for private health facilities, claiming that most banks were unwilling to lend to them due to the perceived high risk of financing private institutions.
"No one wants to lend us money because of the dangers," he explained, "but we need to acquire new medical equipment, buy drugs, pay our personnel, pay taxes and VAT, and so on."
Mr. Donkor also bemoaned the health sector's out-of-date and inflexible legislation, which he claimed hampered operations and reduced the quality of treatments provided.
"If a medical doctor in a private health facility is taking care of a patient and the cost of the care or service being rendered is too high and can't be paid by the patient, the doctor has to refer the patient to a public health facility....and so, if there is no public health facility around the area, should the person die?" he asked rhetorically.
Mr. Daniel Appiah, Head of Business and SMEs Financing at CalBank, stated that most health institutions in the country were not financially equipped.
"Poor accounting procedures exist, as well as a lack of a clearly-defined framework for administering the health institution, he claims.
"Most of the time, the facility's CEO or Founder serves as accountant, marketing officer, and procurement officer, and there is no succession plan in place for the institution's ownership."
He believed that if the health facility had a well-structured governance framework in place, banks and financial institutions would be more willing to lend to it.
Mr Appiah said that while the banks had set aside cash to help private health facilities, all applicants were expected to fulfill certain criteria, which the majority of them did not.
To allow the facilities to secure financial backing from the banks, he advocated for well-structured governance structures, a business strategy, and a succession plan on ownership.
Mr Thomas James, Project Director of the West African Pharma and Healthcare Exhibition, stated that there are opportunities to profit and support humanity in every gap or challenge, and urged pharmaceutical companies, exhibitors, and participants to seize every opportunity to make society a better place.