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Three staff of the Eastern regional Government Hospital in Koforidua have been dismissed for extorting monies from patients.

They were dismissed after management found them guilty of the act.

The modus operandi of one of the dismissed staff was that, he collected extra monies from patients as their medical bills, but ended up pocketing the change after making the actual payment without giving receipts to the patients.

The Medical Director of the Hospital Dr.Kwame Anim Boamah told Ultimate News during encounter with the media that the management of the hospital investigated the illegal acts of the staff and dismissed them after they were found guilty.

According to him, the hospital has since instituted measures to reduce the human interface by introducing onsite banking system to prevent staff from collecting monies directly from patients.

He explained that the hospital has merged with the Umb bank, which has established a financial post at the hospital to collect medical bills from patients on behalf of the hospital with automated receipt.

“The modus Operandi of one of the staff we had to dismiss is that he worked out your bill alright, let’s say may be GHC30 but collects may be GHC50 from the patient; pays actual bill of GHC30 then pockets the rest so we want to advise that, insist on your receipt whenever you attend hospital,” he advised.

He said any patient who is made to pay monies outside the banking system at the hospital should report to authorities.

Meanwhile, the hospital is striving to be a leading medical centre of excellence in Ghana and in Africa.

It is aiming to become a postgraduate training center for West African and Ghana Colleges of Physicians and a teaching hospital for undergraduate training of doctors through the collaboration of Mountcrest University (Ghana) and Penn State in USA.