A review of the free medical care facility for Ministry of Health workers: the case of Kumasi Metropolis
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Date
1999
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Abstract
Ministry of Health staff, their Spouses and four children (below 18 years) were exempted from all hospital fees in 1986. This free medical ire policy need to all civil servants in the country in 1991.
It is important that the managers of the system ensure that it is not abuse, and beneficiaries obtain maximum satisfaction from it. The principal objective of the study is to review the operations of the free medical care facility for health workers in the Kumasi Metropolis. A descriptive cross-sectional study of how the free medical care facility for health workers is managed within the Kumasi Metro Health Administration was done. A retrospective analysis of medical bills submitted for refund between January I 7 to June 1998 was done. Health workers within the Kumasi Metro Health Administration were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Interviews and discussions were used in extracting information from managers of the system.
Results obtained indicated lack up-to-date documentation of information on staff dependants at the health centres and a significant percentage of drugs are prescribed outside the essential drug list. In addition proprietary drug prescribing increased the medical bills. The delay in refund and its cumbersomeness were problems confirmed. It was also detected that most health workers were not conversant with the guidelines for the implementation of the free medical care facility.
Recommendations made include enforcing the use of family identification cards, ensuring the availability of all drugs prescribed at the centres to discourage staff from buying drugs from private source, and encouraging prescribing drugs from the essential Drugs List (EDL). In addition, ensuring that the guidelines for the implementation of the free medical care facility are clearly explain to staff.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Degree of Master of Science in Health Services Planning and Management,