I have been following events in a section of the media in recent days on the alleged “rot” at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The depth some of the criticisms have gone, the attacks on personalities and the allegations making the rounds about our nation’s premiere teaching hospital is sorrowful.
Korle-Bu hospital has been dear to my heart as I have said a couple of times before. Way back in 1974, it was critical in saving first, my life and then both legs at a time when all hope was lost. When months later I was back on my feet, I was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that we had (and still have) great medical brains in this country.
I have also always maintained that if push comes to shove, majority of patients would prefer to be sent to the Korle-Bu teaching hospital for medical care. Why then do we not help Korle-Bu to be on its feet as indeed it has the capability to be a hospital of choice? Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng started us on that journey.
With all the damaging headlines that have been going around, it is surprising that no one has indeed gone to Korle- Bu to speak to the people concerned and to find out about what has been going on.
I took two days off last week to go and find out what has been going on in our flagship teaching hospital. I wanted to know why for the last few weeks or so, Korle-Bu has been said “to be on fire” while character assassination of some of its top medical professionals was going on.
Fortunately, the three Professors of Medicine whose names keep appearing in the reported media stories, the Chairman of the Board, Rev. Professor Seth Ayetey, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Professor Nii Otu Nartey, and Professor Afua Hesse, the Director of Medical Services, were ready to talk to me.
All of them were seen by some medical students I spoke with who were hanging around the open space in front of the Anatomy Department, as respected, conscientious and first class medical professionals.
As I had the opportunity to speak face to face with the three professionals who agreed to talk to me, I sought to know what the problem was and how we can all help to “re-construct” the image of the Korle-Bu teaching hospital which seems to have suffered some damages of late.
Soft spoken Professor Afua Hesse, the first female Pediatric surgeon in Ghana and the current President of the World Association of Women Doctors, the second African woman to have ever occupied that position, explained to me the misunderstandings surrounding her salary for which she is being accused in the media. Really, it is all a matter of getting to understand how the University of Ghana Medical School and the Korle-Bu hospital work. When I sought clarification, I got to understand that they are two separate entities.
Before she applied and got appointed to her current job as the Director of Medical Services at the Korle-Bu hospital, Professor Afua Hesse was and indeed still is a lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School. This makes her an employee of the School and therefore on their pay roll. Her monthly salary is consequently paid by the Ministry of Education.
In view of the substantive role she now occupies, she gets a monthly “top-up” allowance paid from the Korle-Bu hospital’s internally generated funds for the services she renders to the hospital and additional responsibility allowance. Indeed, the responsibility allowance is paid to all the Directors in Korle-Bu and not peculiar to Professor Hesse alone.
The “top-up” monthly allowance is what is perhaps creating some confusion and captured by a section of the media as a second salary. From my understanding, this is nothing new. Indeed, this type of arrangement apparently, is widely practiced in the other two teaching hospitals in the country. The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Tamale Teaching Hospital also pay out “top-up” allowances to their Doctors who are lecturers at their Medical Schools and also do administrative work at the hospitals.
I thought this is an excellent way for the hospitals to use their best talents while encouraging the medical professionals who have the skills not only to impart knowledge but also to assist in both clinical and health administration at such key hospitals.
The information in the media has gone to the extent of painting Rev. Professor Ayetey, the current Board Chairman, as incompetent and corrupt, something I found too hard to take in. I have known Rev Professor Ayetey for some time. I first met him when he was the Dean of the University of Ghana medical school and later, Provost of the College of Health Sciences. At the time, Unilever was sponsoring some final year medical students on six week elective clerkships abroad. I was administering the Unilever sponsorship.
Even though we had done this for years, no one had brought to our notice the fact that some of the students were misusing the sponsorship package. It was Rev. Professor Ayetey, on assuming office, who drew Unilever’s attention to the misuse of the offer. That saved the company some money that was later directed to awarding scholarships to postgraduate students at the College of Health Sciences. It proved an investment worth its while. It was through this that I came face to face with a dedicated and honest Rev Professor Ayetey.
For such a character to be brutally assassinated, I felt it a duty to go and find out what was going on. In my face to face interview with him at his office at the Department of Anatomy, Rev Professor Ayetey was deeply emotional about the attacks on his personality as well as his competence.
As confirmed by the CEO, the hospital has seen some considerable progress. While some drastic steps have been taken to improve the income generation of the hospital, available documents point to the fact that the hospital’s revenue went up from GH11 million in 2008 to GHC26 million in 2010.
One remarkable move by the hospital’s administration is the direct bulk purchase of consumables including drugs. The CEO confirmed to me that nearly 60% of the hospital’s drug requirements are being sourced directly from the manufacturers. There have been some impediments but they are determined to overcome them.
The hospital has completed and commissioned a number of projects critical in health care. This includes the phase one of a reproductive centre key in handling infertility problems. The first floor of the new plastic and burns centre has been completed. The hospital has commissioned the DNA laboratory and finally completed the renovation of the Medical Block, a project which had taken over 10 years to complete.
Confirming all these developments and many more others, the CEO spoke passionately about the decision by the hospital to outsource some of the non-core areas of operation so as to concentrate on the core business of quality health care. He was optimistic that very soon; we would have an efficient Korle-Bu hospital ready to deliver optimum health care to Ghanaians.
My conversations with the three key medical professionals have left me in no doubt that we are rushing to destroy our talented professionals too quickly, in the process of which we may be harming the institution. Korle-Bu receives a lot of donor assistance in and outside the county. What is going on currently is not only destroying characters but it is also driving potential donors away as well as not helping our efforts to encourage our doctors abroad to come home. We have done enough harm to some dedicated medical professionals and our flagship institution, Korle-Bu hospital. The assassinations would not help our course.
vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com