KATH TO SANCTION STAFF FOR LUKEWARM ATTITUDE (PAGE 38, OCTOBER 8)

THE acting Chief Executive of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Professor Ohene Adjei, has threatened to sanction medical staff who exhibit lukewarm and apathetic attitude towards patients who seek medical services at the hospital.
He said while his administration was eager to reward staff who demonstrated exemplary conduct and output that would enhance quality delivery of services, they would not hesitate to apply the appropriate sanctions on erring and non-performing staff.
Addressing directors at the KATH as part of the 2009 mid-year performance review workshop in Kumasi, Professor Adjei said “my vision is to create an atmosphere which will make KATH a health centre which provides quality health care to the community. Improving service delivery is therefore going to be the major pre-occupation of my management”.
The mid-year performance review workshop provided a platform for the management of KATH to take stock of their operations and address their shortfalls, thereby enhancing quality health care delivery.
Professor Adjei pointed out that in recent times, the KATH had “seen some significant improvements in the spread and quality of facilities and infrastructure, and we can also boast some of the best medical brains in the country, but these do not necessarily result in better services for patients if the attitude of staff to duty is lukewarm and apathetic”.
Prof. Adjei said patients deserved better services than what they were getting now and therefore entreated the various directors of the KATH to devise and implement appropriate measures that would enable them to meet all challenges of patients.
As heads and managers, he said they were directly responsible for the output of their various units and directorates and urged them to instil discipline in their subordinates.
He pointed out that since they owed it a duty to go the extra mile to improve output and ensure better service delivery to their patients, there was the need for them to pursue excellence at their various workplaces.
Prof. Adjei stressed the need to collaborate with “anyone who is prepared to contribute his or her quota to the quality improvement drive of the hospital, irrespective of political, ethnic or religious inclinations” adding that “there will simply be no room for harassment or witch-hunting of any kind, but management will not tolerate indiscipline, laxity and ineptitude, because KATH can never move to the next level with poor work culture”.