The management of Intravenous Infusions Plc, Manufacturers of Pharmaceutical Products, has said the company has begun receiving payments from health institutions that owed it for infusion supplied.
The release of funds follows a distress call made by the company to the government to help clear the GH¢10 million owed by the hospitals which are funded under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for the supply of infusions.
The debt had accumulated over a year and had negatively affected the operations of the company.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr David Klutse, confirmed the company had received some payments after the distress call last week but could not readily tell how much had come in so far.
“Last week, we received payment from one of the regional hospitals. It is an evolving situation and we can be called at any time. Last Friday, I got a call from Ho that they have paid something.
All the hospitals we have spoken to have all indicated that payments are coming in,” he said in an interview after the company took its turn at the facts behind the figures series by the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in Accra.
He said the regional hospitals have also indicated that they have gotten assurances from the government and they will ,therefore, be paid subsequently.
“One region might call you and say we have received some money and ,therefore, we are making payments available. It is not like everybody will pay at the same time,” he said.
No cut in supply
Mr Klutse explained that the company would ,however, continue to supply its products to the health facilities as it continues to engage them on how best to repay the existing debt.
“As for the supplies, we will continue to supply to them. We don’t just turn off the tap on a hospital just because the money has delayed.”
“We haven’t done that and where there is a delay, we try to engage the hospital or the facility and they might assure us that they will get the money and pay and where we are happy with it, we supply the product,” he said.
The company, he explained had 24 key customers which it supplied its products to. They include 10 regional hospitals, 10 regional medical stores, four teaching hospitals and Christian health association facilities.
Facts behind the figures
The session was to give the company the opportunity to update players in the stock market on its performance for 2017 and what it intends doing in 2018.
On its 2017 performance, the company grew its revenue by 55 per cent from GH¢10.6 million in 2016 to GH¢16.4 million in 2017.
On the outlook, he said the company was looking at getting a private placement to be able to get more capital to expand and grow its business as it seeks to expand into other countries in West Africa.
“The first thing we want to do is to get the private placement because when we do, it will help us clear some of the things on our balance sheet,” he said.