KATH Calls For Public Support � To Confront Challenges In 2015

The management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the biggest health facility in the northern sector of the country, has appealed to the public, especially corporate bodies and philanthropists, to support the facility in its quest to deliver quality healthcare to its numerous clients across the country. Describing 2014 as one of the most trying and turbulent periods, the hospital says it is anticipating serious administrative challenges in the year 2015, especially, in the area of payment of utility tariffs and rising cost of medical consumables, and would, therefore, require the support of both internal and external stakeholders to be able to surmount them. Speaking at its Annual Thanksgiving Service and Joint Staff Reception, the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr. Joseph Komla Akpaloo, reiterated the fact that the hospital would continue to grapple with challenges such as old and dilapidated infrastructure, and congestion arising out of lack of adequate supporting peripheral health facilities. �The year 2015 is not going to be an easy one for this institution; apart from limited resources available, we have to cope with the additional burden of having to pay for utilities, and this is going to exert tremendous pressures on the finances of the hospital,� the CEO noted. According to him, the facility is additionally confronted with having to operate with the efficiency of the private sector, and at the same time, adopt the compassion of a public sector health facility, in order to provide quality but affordable services to Ghanaians. He, therefore, stressed the need for staff and management to rededicate themselves and review the mode of operations with the view of reducing waste, and also devise more efficient ways of delivering services, in order to generate the needed funds to cover operational expenses. Dr. Akpaloo, however, revealed that the hospital will be initiating measures to further improve staff discipline and attitude towards work, adding that efforts were also underway to get state support for the continuation of works on the 38 year old Maternity and Children�s Block, which has been abandoned. Ministering at the occasion, Rev. Father Kwaku Abio-Abaidoo charged the staff to remain committed to their duties and service to humanity.