NDC Youth Accuse Hospital Management

A pro-National Democratic Congress (NDC) youth group based in Changli in the Tamale Central Constituency, has launched a scathing attack on the board and the acting management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital for alleged mismanagement, conflict of interest, incompetence and corruption. The youth have threatened to resort to available legal means to salvage the hospital from becoming a shadow of itself and not meeting its mandatory requirement of being the only referral hospital for the three northern regions. The youth described the current state of affairs at the premier hospital in the Northern Region as pathetic in view of the inability of the current crop of leaders to properly steer the affairs. The group claimed that the hospital in the past was in the media for all the wrong reasons which led to some prominent chiefs including Gukpe �Naa Alhaji Abdulai Alhassan visiting the hospital after several reports and complaints. Secretary of the youth, Alhassan Abdul-Barik, said, �The level of mismanagement at hospital is so widespread to the extent that basic requirements for daily running of the hospital are not available.� The youth alleged that the award of contracts at the hospital smack of corruption and conflict of interest, mentioning the construction of fence wall as an example faulting the caretaker board chairman of influencing contracts. �It is common for example for a patient to be told that a caesarian operation cannot be performed on a patient because of unavailability of water,�� the youth claimed. Basic drugs including; Cytototech, Vitamin K, Oxytocins, catheter hand gloves, A4 sheets for printing laboratory results, according the youth, were not in stock at the hospital hindering effective health care delivery at the facility. Acting Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Misbaw Mohammed, had, however, rubbished the claims of the NDC indicating that �the hospital has never run out of stock of drugs or medicines as claimed by the youth.�