The medical superintendent of the Bimbilla Hospital, Dr Adam Barhama, has told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Class91.3FM's mid-day news, 12Live that the GHS250,000 water bill incurred by the health post, over which he was chased out of the facility by some irate youth of the area, accumulated within a 19-year period.

He, thus, wondered why the youth should vent their spleen on him when he had been at the helm of affairs at the hospital for just two out of those 19 years.

"It's an accumulated bill since the hospital was built in 2004", Dr Barhama said in an interview on Tuesday, 15 August 2023, adding: "It's over 19 years old". 

"I'm barely two years old, so, how do you blame those bills on me?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has said there are laid down procedures for resolving concerns and grievances at the various health facilities across the country, including the Bimbilla Government Hospital in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region other than the use of violence.

The irate youth stormed the hospital on Friday, 10 August 2023 to demand answers from the medical superintendent as to why their relatives were being transferred to other hospitals.

In the course of their enquiry, the youth got agitated and chased away the medical superintendent after learning that the nurses were on a sit-down strike in protest to the disconnection of the health post from water supply by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) over the GHS250,000 debt.

The police had to come to the rescue of the Medical Superintendent and two others; the accountant, and the administrator.

They escorted them out of the facility.

Reacting to the incident in a statement issued on Monday, 14 August 2023, co-signed by its President Dr Frank Serebour and Acting General Secretary Dr Richard Selormey, the GMA condemned what it described as the “lawless acts of the youth of the town,” which have put the life of the Medical Superintendent and other staff of the hospital in danger. 

The GMA noted: “These acts of impunity have the tendency of making it difficult for health workers to accept postings to some facilities and further derail efforts the Association has put in place to encourage doctors to accept postings to deprived areas.”

It called on the Municipal Chief Executive, the Regional Minister and the Member of Parliament for the area, traditional authorities and all other relevant stakeholders to “immediately call the youth to order and provide adequate protection for life and property,” stressing that this will make way for due process to be instituted to ascertain the “true facts about the grievances and find lasting solutions to the issues.”

The GMA also indicated that it is closely monitoring the situation in the facility and will advise its members “appropriately in due course.”

It, however, cautioned that if the threats and acts that threaten lives and properties persists, it will have no other choice but to “ensure that no doctor returns to the facility either now or in the foreseeable future since their safety cannot be guaranteed.”