KATH HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO TRAIN IN CHINA (SPREAD, JAN 1, 2011)

A number of health personnel at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) are to undergo intensive training in China.
They include doctors, nurses and other para-medics who will benefit from an exchange programme between KATH and two Chinese health institutions.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been signed between the management of KATH and two Chinese health institutions for the programme to begin in the early part of 2011.
The Chief Executive of KATH, Professor Ohene Adjei, made this known during an interaction between the management of the hospital and media practitioners in Kumasi last Thursday.
He explained that with the exchange programme, medical personnel from both KATH and their Chinese counterparts would visit each other periodically and expand their horizons in healthcare delivery to enhance efficiency.
Additionally, Professor Ohene Adjei said as part of the efforts at enhancing quality healthcare delivery at the hospital, management had intensified in-service training for medical personnel.
He appealed to both the print and electronic media operating in the Ashanti Region to support the development initiatives of the hospital.
That, according to the management, will enhance effective and efficient healthcare delivery for the numerous patients who attend the hospital for care.
Expressing concern about the increasing number of patients to the hospital on daily basis, Professor Ohene Adjei said KATH was supposed to be a referral hospital to address emergency cases, but inadequate healthcare facilities in Kumasi always forced patients to troop to the hospital for primary health care.
“The hospital was developed purposely for accidents and emergency cases, but it is not being used for that purpose, hence the pressure on medical personnel, equipment and infrastructure at the hospital,” he said.
He said it was, therefore, key for the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to attach much more importance to the expansion of the Manhyia, Suntreso, Tafo and Kyirapatre hospitals for them to provide adequate medical care to patients in the Kumasi Metropolis and its environs.
He said management was also initiating vital projects at the hospital to make quality healthcare delivery readily accessible to patients.
He mentioned the eye centre under construction and gave an assurance that it would be completed by July, 2011.
He said management was also sourcing for financial support to rehabilitate the main hospital block, explaining that the rehabilitation would start from the ‘D’ block and gradually extend to the other blocks.
On the Child and Maternal block which has been under construction since 1974, Professor Ohene Adjei said efforts were being made to secure the needed financial resources to complete it.
The chief executive said management was also replacing antiquated equipment at the X-ray department to enhance performance at the department.
In addition, Professor Ohene Adjei said management was also in the process of acquiring a DNA equipment at the hospital to reduce the cost of travelling to Accra to secure such services.