Private healthcare providers push for tax exemptions

The Chief Executive Officer of New Crystal Health Services Limited, Dr. Wisdom Amegletor, is appealing for the government to seriously consider a reduction in corporate tax or an exemption from corporate tax for private health care facilities.

High taxes, according to him, are a major challenge making it difficult for them to reinvest in the business.

“The taxes are killing us. What government can do for us, basically, is the taxes; the government is supposed to provide health care but the government is unable to, and we appreciate that. So, if I am doing it I think basic things like equipment that we need should be exempted from taxes, but we are still paying taxes on the equipment,” he told the B&FT in an interview.

He said the government should assist private players in the health sector with inputs such as land for infrastructure purposes as well as secondment of staff, which is another major challenge.

“Government trains all the doctors and nurses, and then government picks them, so before you can get a doctor and/or a nurse to leave the public sector you must be willing to pay more than what government is paying, so it makes our costs unnecessarily high.

“Since we are all serving the same sector, the government should be able to allow us to present our requirements for human resources so that they can post the necessary nurses and doctors to us, and we will pay them on the normal government payroll.

“But if the government posts them all, we have to convince them to leave the government sector; and most people are not comfortable when they have to leave the safety of government for uncertainties of the private sector,” Dr. Amegletor revealed.

As a result of staff challenges, the CEO of New Crystal Health Services Limited indicated his intention to collaborate with other health experts in order to set up an institution to train more health professionals and specialists for the private sector, who are willing to use their knowledge and skills to solve problems in their communities.

Construction of a state-of-the-art 100-beds facility is currently ongoing in Ashaiman, an expansion work of New Crystal Health Services Limited to meet the health needs of people in Ashaiman and its surrounding communities.