KAATH SIGNS MOU TO COLLABORATE WITH CHINESE INSTITUTIONS (SPREAD, NOV 18, 2010)

Authorities of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two leading Chinese medical institutions as part of a strategic drive to enhance the provision of tertiary healthcare services, training and research.
The two medical institutions are the Nanjing Medical University (NMU) and the Wenzhou Medical College (WMC), and WMC’s affiliated teaching hospital is the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College (FAHWMC).
The Chief Executive of KATH, Prof Ohene Adjei, signed the MoU for KATH, when he led a three-member delegation on a one-week visit to China.
Dr Di Chen, the President of NMU, signed for his university, while Prof Chen Xiaoming, the Vice President of WMC and President of FAHWMC, signed for his institutions.
The NMU, founded in 1934, is a top medical university with 1,400 strong faculty located in the Jiangsu Province. It has 18 affiliated hospitals and 30 other teaching hospitals.
Built in 1958, the WMC has close to 22,000 students, including Ghanaians, pursuing various medical programmes and related courses up to the Ph.D level, while the FAHWMC, established in 1919, currently has 1,600-bed facility at its old site and a new satellite facility with 2,500 beds equipped with modern medical equipment.
A third collaborative framework in the area of research and training is also being explored between KATH and the Centre for Infectious Diseases of the Beijing You’an Hospital.
Briefing journalists in Kumasi at the weekend, Prof. Ohene Adjei said although KATH had decades of rich experience in international partnership, this was the first time the hospital was entering into a relationship with Chinese institutions.
He said the hospital’s decision to seek special partnership with the prestigious Chinese institutions was in line with the growing relationship between the governments of the two countries and China’s
emergence as a global giant.
“We were overwhelmed by the level of innovation and standard of medical practice and facilities in the medical institutions and the affiliated teaching hospitals that we visited. We, therefore, have no doubt that the collaboration will help KATH to consolidate its position as a leading provider of specialist heathcare services, training and research in West Africa in line with our new Strategic Plan,” he said.
The Medical Director of KATH, Dr Baffour Awuah, and the Head of the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) Unit of the hospital, Mr Fred Mensah-Acheampong, were the other two members of the delegation.