KATH suspends two doctors for extortion

Two doctors of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi have been suspended for extorting money from patients.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KATH, Professor Otchere Yaw Addai-Mensah, disclosed this yesterday when he paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at his palace at Manhyia, Kumasi.

The visit was to introduce himself and the management of the hospital to the Asantehene since he assumed office six months ago.

Discipline

Prof. Addai-Mensah told the Asantehene that when he took over the management of the hospital, his first priority was to inject discipline into the work ethics of the facility as part of efforts to make the hospital customer-centred.

He noted that some of the clinics were also not starting work on time, thus prolonging the waiting period for patients.

The CEO of KATH said with the support of the Board of Directors, measures had been put in place and now all clinics “start work at 8 a.m.”

To ensure proper supervision on holidays and weekends, Prof. Addai-Mensah said directors at the hospital had been scheduled on a roster such that there were always two directors on duty every weekend and on statutory holidays to guarantee seamless flow of work and proper supervision.

The CEO further indicated that for six months at the helm of affairs, he had been able to solicit sponsorship to give a facelift to the doctors and nurses flats at KATH and also introduced the Point of Sales (POS) and Mobile Money (MoMo) payment systems to make it easy for patients and their relatives to pay bills.

Prof. Addai-Mensah informed the Asantehene, however, that work on the Maternal and Baby Unit and the Sickle Cell and Blood Transfusion Centre of the hospital, which was being sponsored by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), had come to a standstill.

He said for about a year now, no work had been done on either of the projects and prayed the Asantehene to intervene to get the projects completed.

Military land

Another challenge facing KATH, the CEO explained, was funding to acquire the military land close to the facility for expansion.

Prof. Addai-Mensah said even though the military had agreed to relocate and give the land to the hospital, there was the need for funding to relocate the military facilities to a new place “and the money involved is quite huge.”

No need for money

However, in his response, Otumfuo Osei Tutu explained that the military had already been relocated and the hospital would not have to pay for the land again.

The Asantehene said the issue had been discussed with the President and the Minister of Defence and “the issue has already been sorted out and you don’t have to pay any money to them for the land.”