From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi
The management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has reiterated its appeal over the years to the Ministry of Health for the support of the government to procure a new and bigger oxygen plant.
The Chief Executive Officer of the health facility, Dr. Joseph Akpaloo, who raised the concern at the hospital’s 2016 End of Year Performance Review Workshop last week Thursday, explained that the current oxygen plant at the hospital is obsolete and should have been
decommissioned long ago.
Dr. Akpaloo said the plant is operating below capacity, for which reason the facility is sourcing a significant portion of its oxygen needs from private providers to augment the in-house production of oxygen.
The KATH CEO disclosed that the hospital is using 150 cylinders of oxygen per day, for which management is paying a whopping GH¢300,000 per month for its procurement.
Reviewing operations of the hospital in 2016, Dr. Akpaloo indicated that its smooth performance had been affected by the difficult operational environment during the period under review. He mentioned the delayed reimbursement from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), rising cost of medical and non-medical consumables, ageing infrastructure, and inability of some patients to pay their bills, as challenges that had greatly impeded the hospital’s operations.
In spite of the named and identified challenges, the KATH CEO announced that the hospital registered some achievements, including the upgrading of some of its facilities and services. According to him, the provision and replacement of eight new elevators constituted a major facelift in over 20 years.
Dr. Akpaloo said KATH had a boost in its medical waste treatment capabilities, with the support of the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GIZ) under which a 175,000-Euro 400 kilograms daily burning capacity smokeless medical incinerator for the treatment of
medical waste in the hospital was acquired.
The CEO further disclosed that the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, in 2016 designated KATH as its training Centre for Anaethestists in Africa, in recognition of its mandate as a teaching facility, and high standards of skilled hands and facilities.
KATH, Dr. Akpaloo said, became the first medical establishment in the West African sub-region to perform Graniotomy and Frontal for a child suffering from coronal sagittal craniosynostosis, in collaboration with medical experts from the University of Albama, USA.
The post KATH needs new, bigger oxygen plant -CEO appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.
From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi The management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has reiterated its appeal over the years to the Ministry of Health for the support of the government to procure a new and bigger oxygen plant. The Chief Executive Officer of the health facility, Dr. Joseph Akpaloo, who […]
The post KATH needs new, bigger oxygen plant -CEO appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.
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