Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi over the years has launched a series of infrastructural projects including retooling of working equipment, operational systems, staff motivation, and governance structures among others.
This has resulted in a sharp decline in death figures and increased the hospital’s number of admissions, surgeries, OPD attendance, patient experience, and revenue.
Prof. Otchere Addai Mensah, Chief executive of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital attributes this success to staff motivated initiatives from management and embraced by the entire staff of the facility.
Addressing the 2023 annual performance review of the hospital’s operations, under the theme “The new KATH agenda-recalibrating efforts for enhanced health service outcomes: the role of stakeholders” Prof. Addai Mensah reiterated the hospital’s commitment towards providing excellent health for its clients despite operating in a challenging environment.
Highlighting the hospital’s achievement in the year under review he said “ in 2023 recorded OPD specialist cases of 269,917 higher than 2022 average cases of 256,371.
The daily specialist OPD attendance in 2022 moved from 1041 to 1086 in 2023 while admissions stood at 30,133 as against the 2022 figure of 29,790. Surgical operations recorded in 2023 were 18,607 with that of 2022 being 17,215. Radiotherapy services moved from 5,938 from 5,487 in 2022’’ he noted.
He stressed emergency admissions also rose to 26,298 in 2023 from 25,391 in 2022 while physiotherapy service also saw an increase from 12599 in 2022 to 17,634.
“Radiological services witnessed a higher jump in 5 years with the 2022 output of 57,915 cases rising to 62,158 while laboratory service also went up by 236,428 in 2022 to 246,903 in 2023.
Prof. Octchere Addai Mensah however, added the hospital’s patients’ satisfaction rate also improved from 80.7% in 2022 to 85.2% in 2023. There was, however, a reduction in the number of deliveries from 5,429 in 2022 to 4,729 in 2023 ’’.
Heal Komfo Anokye Project
In line with the quest to upgrade infrastructure to boost the quality of service delivery and patients’ experience at the hospital, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during the year under review launched a major initiative to comprehensively renovate and modernize the “GEE” blocks made up of blocks “A,B,C and D”.
These blocks, constructed in 1955 to serve as the main inpatient facilities for the hospital, have never been renovated but for the intervention of the Asantehene.
He disclosed the 10 million United States Dollars required for the project, 40 percent had been realized in pledges and cash donations thanks to the generous donations of Justmoh Constructions Limited and Joshob Constructions Limited among others.
“On behalf of the Board, management, staff, and patients of the hospital, I wish to convey my heartfelt appreciation to the Asantehene for his uncommon leadership in spearheading the execution of this project’’.
He explained “due to the acute lack of space at the hospital, the renovation works are likely to cause inconveniences to staff and patients. May I take this opportunity to implore all those who will be affected to bear with us. As the sole tertiary health care provider in this part of the country, KATH has more than served the people of Ghana well over the decades and it is our humble expectation that we will all contribute to make this project a reality’’.
Best medical practice
Pro-Vice Chancellor of the KNUST Prof. Elis Dabo, guest speaker at the event said, the practices of the teaching Hospital must be informed by evidence, innovations, and creativity.
“In this day and age, it is important to realize that if we want evident synthesis that informs practices there are abundant technologies that can help us to be able to do it. It is important that we apply ourselves in order to be able to offer state-of-the-art intervention for our teaching hospital on the days that individuals will come to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and think of only one outcome and that one outcome is death must be over. The rebranding of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital must have the spirit of individuals coming and knowing that they will have the best healthcare delivery on the basis of evidence and innovation’’
He further encouraged medics and other staff in the teaching hospital to be guided by the ethics of the medical profession in line with the mission and vision statement of the hospital.
“Ethos and ethics of the workings of a teaching hospital must be at the cutting edge. We must redefine the ethics of our profession as healthcare professionals. We must understand the operations of what we seek to do and ensure the ethos of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital the vision and mission the practices are akin and the core values that ensure that the ethos of work and the ethics that govern this practice are upheld. This must be part of the thinking and rebranding of the new Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
He assured “we at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology will assist in advocacy we will assist in training we assist in research and evidence generation, we will assist certainly because we are using the KNUST platform in training and service we will ensure that we in bid these ideals that will help us to be able to stay focus’’ he stressed.
He again encouraged the hospital management not to allow the use of substandard interventions such as pharmaceutical products among others in the facility despite price variations.
“Often times we have we have seen sub-standards not only in service but also in some interventions and here I’m referring to interventional products such as pharmaceutical companies and individuals who bring in substandard products as a teaching hospital the medicines the tools devise and all those items we used in our services delivery must be of top most quality. What I want to suggest to you is that we should not just permit any pharmaceutical company or any pharmaceutical product because the person has a network or connection. Insist on top most quality and I’m not naïve of price differentials’’ he lamented.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Isaac Justice Bediako
