The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has agreed to settle two debts totalling GH¢33,100 linked to the care of persons with mental health conditions found on the streets, as it examined the 2025 Auditor-General’s Reports on departments and agencies under the Ministry of Health.
The Committee directed officials of the health sector institutions cited in the reports to recover and pay monies owed into the prescribed accounts. It also urged them to revisit the audit findings, provide updated responses and ensure that audit recommendations are fully implemented.
PAC reviewed the 2025 Auditor-General’s Reports under the Ministry of Health, which cover findings from selected health directorates and institutions across nine regions. These are the Western, Western North, Volta, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah, Central, Oti and Greater Accra regions.
The examination also covered the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine, one of the specialised institutions cited in the reports.
Directive to Recover and Pay Monies Owe
The review forms part of PAC’s work of examining the Auditor-General’s findings on public bodies and requiring the officials concerned to respond to them.
Central to the Committee’s directive is the recovery of monies owed. PAC instructed officials of the cited institutions to recover the amounts due and pay them into the prescribed accounts.
The directive applies to the health sector institutions named in the 2025 reports. It places the responsibility for recovery on the officials of those institutions, who must pay the recovered monies into the accounts designated for the purpose.
The Committee tied the instruction to the audit findings themselves. It asked officials to go back over what the Auditor-General reported, so that their responses reflect the current position on each issue.
Debts Owed Pantang Hospital
Two specific amounts featured in the Committee’s decision. The first is GH¢17,000 owed to Pantang Hospital by the Ghana Medical Association. The second is GH¢16,100 owed by the Akuapem South Municipal, which the Committee said arose as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. PAC said the debts arose from treating persons with mental health conditions found on the streets.
” agreed to settle GH¢17,000 owed to Pantang Hospital by the Ghana Medical Association and GH¢16,100 owed by the Akuapem South Municipal as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.”
Public Accounts Committee
Pantang Hospital is a mental health facility, and the debts relate to the care of patients picked up from the streets. Their treatment generated costs that remained unpaid by the parties named in the Committee’s statement.
Concern Over Recurring Infractions
Beyond the two debts, the Committee voiced a broader worry. It expressed concern over the recurrence of similar infractions in public institutions.
The concern signals that the issues raised in the 2025 reports are not isolated. Similar lapses, the Committee noted, keep appearing across institutions. That is why PAC pressed officials not only to address the specific findings but also to revisit them and update their responses.
” we all express concern over the recurrence of similar infractions in public institutions and urged officials to revisit the findings, provide updated responses, and ensure audit recommendations are fully implemented.”
Public Accounts Committee
The statement frames full implementation of audit recommendations as the test of whether the examination produces change. Recommendations that are issued but not carried out leave the findings open, and the same problems can reappear in later reports.
Accountability Across Regions and Institutions
The spread of the findings, from the Western Region to the Upper East and from Greater Accra to the Oti Region, shows that the audit covered a wide cross-section of the health sector. The inclusion of a national specialist centre alongside regional directorates adds to that breadth.
By addressing recoveries, specific debts and the implementation of recommendations in one sitting, the Committee linked the narrow, case-by-case settlement of amounts to the wider demand that institutions act on audit findings.
Officials of the cited institutions now carry the task of recovering the monies owed and paying them into the prescribed accounts. They are also expected to return to the Auditor-General’s findings, update their responses and ensure that the recommendations are fully implemented.
The Committee’s agreement to settle the debts owed Pantang Hospital closes out two specific items. The wider instruction on recovery and implementation will determine how far the 2025 findings translate into corrective action across the health sector.
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