Financing A Tertiary Level Health Facility In Kumasi - Ghana

Abstract

The researchers sought to study the revenue and expenditure policy in the health sector. The study was conducted at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Health institutions are financed through either private expenditure or public expenditure. Non-probability sampling technique was used in order to achieve the objectives set for the research. And also, financial statements of the hospital for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were used. The study revealed that the main sources of funding for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital were from the Internally Generated Funds (IGF), Government of Ghana subventions (GoG) and the Donor Pool Fund (DPF). With regards to percentage contribution to revenue in terms of cash IGF, DPF and GoG contributes 88%, 3.35% and 8.97% respectively to the total cash revenue of the health sector. Thus, IGF is the main source of funding in the health sector with very little contributions from the other sources. Expenditure items in the health sector are broadly categorized into four categories namely; personnel emolument, administration, service delivery and investment. The analyses of these expenditure items revealed that expenditure on service delivery (service and drugs) constitute the biggest expenditure item. This was followed by personnel emoluments, administration and investment respectively. Since IGF is now the most reliable source of revenue in the health sector, policies, strategies and controls must be put in place in order to enhance revenue mobilization in the health sector.

KEY WORDS: Financing; Healthcare; Expenditure