The Acting Chief Executive Officer at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso has stressed the determination of management to retool Ashanti’s premier hospital.
This, he noted will help the hospital to respond and deal with normal and emergency cases more efficiently.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer Newspaper in Kumasi after addressing some senior journalists at an end of year media interaction session, the CEO noted the importance of getting the right equipment for the hospital.
He revealed the decision of management to set up an endowment fund where funds gained from the public as well as stakeholders will be used to procure modern equipments for the hospital.
The CEO mentioned that an amount of GHC 60 million is envisaged to help the hospital carry out the entire retooling exercise.
CHALLENGES:
According to Dr Owusu-Danso, some of the equipment and tools at the hospital have become obsolete.
This, he noted does not augur well for a hospital as big as KATH which daily attends to emergency as well as referral cases from across the country as well as others from adjoining countries in West Africa.
The CEO also mentioned the lack of beds at the facility, adding this makes care giving difficult as the facility at times are forced to turn away some patients due to lack of space and beds.
This situation, Dr Owusu-Danso noted could be done away with if government is able to complete an existing 995 Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) unit at the premises of the hospital this new year.
COMMENDANTION:
Heaping tons of commendation on the media, the CEO noted the vibrancy of media practitioners has resulted in the attention KATH regularly gets from government.
He noted the yet to be commissioned special MBU block built by the generosity of the wife of the President, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo is a testimony of the power of the media.
According to him, the constant media attention to the deaths that were occurring at the congested MBU unit helped to arouse the attention of the First Lady.
He thanked Seth Kwame Boateng of Multimedia fame for sustaining the attention on the senseless deaths that were occurring at the unit.
He, however, rallied the media to continue to collaborate with KATH to help it perform its functions efficiently at all times.
