Dr Isaac Kofi Asare, Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, said on Thursday that unpaid accumulated medical bills of prisoners at the Sunyani Government Hospital over the years run into several millions of cedis.

He said health care services for the prisoners are a great cost to the hospital because sick prisoners "are oftentimes brought there without money to pay for the services rendered them".

Dr Asare was reacting to a question about the National Health Insurance Scheme and the fate of prisoners at a day's consultative seminar for stakeholders in Sunyani. The seminar, organised by the Sunyani District Assembly, was also aimed at preparing the minds of the people to understand the scheme to ensure its smooth takeoff.

Dr Asare expressed regret that the situation at times generates misunderstandings between the para-medical staff and the prison officers who accompany the sick prisoners to the hospital.

He, however, noted that the inability of the prison authorities to pay for the medical bills might emanate from insufficient budget to cater for such cases and therefore, appealed to the prison authorities to put their case across to the sector ministry for sufficient funds to pay for "such vital expenditures" as it is a big drain on the income-generation efforts of the hospital.

Mr Ishmael Khan Aborabora Baidoo-Ahmad, Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Prisons, later in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, confirmed Dr. Asare's complaint but blamed the situation on the police.

Mr Baidoo-Ahmad said the problem had arisen because the health authorities sometimes confused the status of convicted prisoners with that of remand prisoners, explaining that the care for convicted prisoners as well as remand prisoners contributed to the problem. "The two are not the same because the Prison Service is in full charge of convicted prisoners whilst the Police Service is supposed to take care of those on remand."

The Regional Prisons Director claimed that the service was not obliged to take responsibility for the health needs of remand prisoners. "The police authorities in Sunyani, either by commission or omission, have neglected their responsibility for that and we are bearing the brunt of it," he added.