Patients seeking health care at Salaga and its environs in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region now resort to buying blood bags outside the government hospital for blood transfusion.

According to relatives of patients who suffer this predicament, it cost them additional GH¢40 to buy one outside the hospital describing describe the situation as worrying because they think health insurance covers those expenses.

A man from Kumdi whose daughter is on admission at the pediatric ward of the Salaga hospital told mynewsgh.com that he was asked to get two ‘bottles’ of blood for the daughter and had to buy two of the blood transfusion bags which cost him GH¢ 80.

” I bought two of the blood bags for 80 Ghana Cedis because I was told the hospital didn’t have and after buying the blood bags I paid 100 Ghana Cedis to get a donor because our blood group didn’t match” he lamented.

Investigations conducted by mynewsgh.com indicate the situation has existed at the facility since October, 2016 with no attempt by authorities to address the situation.

Meanwhile authorities of Salaga government hospital blame the situation on delay in payment of claims by National Health Insurance which has affected stock of most of their consumables.

” As you know the number of cases we have in a day keep increasing and it puts pressure on our consumables and so we run short of these consumables. We owe our suppliers a lot because Health Insurance owe us too and so we only have a few of the blood bags for emergency cases which come late at night”, the administrator revealed.