The Western Regional Director of the Ghana Health Services, Dr.Yaw Ofori Yeboah has hinted that arrangement for reimbursement of monies for the medical cost of the accident victims of the Apeatse explosion is being made by the government.
The reimbursement complies with a promise by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawamia when he visited the victims on Friday, January 21, 2022, that government will bear the cost of their medical expenses.
“I am glad to inform you that reimbursement arrangements have been made, as you can imagine the early stage of the emergency the focus was rightly on ensuring blood and other critical life-saving items were mobilized for the injured.
“We are now collating expenditures from various health facilities for immediate reimbursement,” the Regional Director reiterated.
Dr.Yaw Ofori Yeboah said, 348 accident victims from the Apeatse explosion who were sent to various health facilities in the Western Region with life-threatening abdominal injuries, leg injuries, facial injuries, and shrapnel injuries, were receiving free medical care, however, two of the victims died.
Speaking during an emergency press conference on Friday, January 28, 2022, at the Regional Health Directorate to set records straight on why relatives of two victims paid some monies during the emergency he explained that unfortunately, the facilities where the two victims were receiving treatment ran out of some essential items such as orthopedic plates and some drugs during the emergency, and relatives of the two, bought these items from private sources.
But he said the Regional Health Directorate has already directed the facilities in charge to fully refund the expenditure incurred to the families and rather include them in the bills being collated for reimbursement.
He echoed the government’s decision to offer free care to the accident victims and stressed that all Ghana Health Service facilities in the Western Region will continue to offer free care.
Dr. Ofori Yeboah said a health post has been set up at the internally displaced person site to provide essential primary care.
Psycho-social support has been arranged for the survivors and relatives.
Again, a team of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists have been sent to conduct a hearing assessment since 40 residents of Apeatse reported having problems with hearing.
All but two out of the 348 cases seen have either been discharged or stable in hospitals.