Korle Bu facing imminent shutdown

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital may have to close its doors to patients due to a financial crisis which the Senior Staff Association of the Hospital say looms. The association has petitioned the Health Minister to intervene to prevent a possible shutdown. The statement said the hospital will not be able to continue patient care provision and pay salaries of workers on the internally generated fund for August 2014 if the ministry does not intervene. The statement signed by James Clifford Oblitey, Secretary of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Senior Staff Association (KOSSA) said  “at the moment, many machines in the Radiology Department are not working and the hospital will not be able to meet its financial commitment to staff, suppliers and contractors who have been contracted to provide various essential services.” The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Senior Staff Association (KOSSA) has been battling management of the hospital over the management of the internally generated funds. This led to the replacement of the acting CEO, Rev Albert Okpoti Botchway and the resignation of the chairman of the board, Eddie Annan.

Below is the full statement issued by the Senior Staff Association of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

Dear Sir,

LOOMING FINANCIAL CRISIS IN KORLE BU TEACHING HOSPITAL

We wish to respectfully bring to your notice the weak state of the finances of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the possible disruption in the delivery of services if urgent action is not taken.

Hon Minister, you will recall that in our petition through you to His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama in May 2014, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Senior Staff Association (KOSSA) predicted and warned of a financial meltdown of the hospital in three months, if the erratic and non-core expenditures of the then board chairman and the acting CEO continued. The current affair of the Hospital’s finances as shown in the attached financial statement is an eloquent vindication of KOSSA.

This statement was presented at a meeting yesterday of departmental heads and accountants by the Director of Finance and the Ag. CEO which shows the hospital will not be able to continue to provide patient care and pay salaries of IGF staff for this month. We have always known this but the former Board Chairman Mr. Eddie Annan and the immediate past acting CEO, Rev Albert Okpoti Botchway kept making contrary and false claims.

At the moment, many machines in the Radiology Department are not working and the hospital will not be able to meet its financial commitment to staff, suppliers and contractors who have been contracted to provide various essential services.

We are writing to inform you that if things stay the way they are now, there will be serious disruption in patient care in several areas and a good number of members of Staff who are on IGF will not be paid their salaries to mitigate living conditions.

Hon. Minister of Health, KOSSA wishes to humbly request that:

As a matter of urgency, the National Health Insurance Authority should be directed to reimburse Korle Bu with all its outstanding claims.  This is crucially important to avoid disruption in the provision of tertiary and specialized care to our patients.

The contractors and suppliers of all radiographical machines should be authorized to immediately repair the new MRI and CT Scan to reduce the needless suffering our patients go through. Currently patients’ relations have to arrange and hire vehicles to convey them to other facilities outside Korle Bu for these investigations.

The cars bought for some directors and deputy directors should be returned as directed by your predecessor. Returning the cars alone will save the hospital GHC21,000.00 per month. This is not enough to address the financial problems now but it will reduce the pressure from suppliers.

As members of the hospital we deem it our bounden duty to call the attention of all the stakeholders to the looming financial crisis. We work and earn our living in the hospital to save lives and we must not watch for it to face these huge unwarranted problems.

It is our prayer and hope that you will treat the request with the needed urgency to prevent a disruption in the services we provide to our patients.

Thank you in the service of our Motherland Ghana.

Yours faithfully,

signed

James Clifford Oblitey

Secretary, KOSSA

For:

Charles Ofei-Palm

KOSSA President

cc:

THE CHIEF DIRECTOR, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, ACCRA

THE FINANCIAL CONTROLLER, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, ACCRA

THE ACTING CEO, KORLE BU TEACHING HOSPITAL, ACCRA

THE CEO, NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE AUTHORITY, ACCRA

THE CHAIRMAN, THE CONSULTANTS FORUM, KBTH, ACCRA

Source: Citi