Minister Begs Doctors

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Alfred Tia Sugri, has passionately appealed to striking doctors and nurses at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi to return to work.

The KATH doctors and nurses embarked on the strike because according to them, they did not feel safe to work at the medical facility after they had been beaten by angry mob that stormed the hospital to demand the release of the body of a missing dead baby.

The deputy minister, who visited KATH on Tuesday, said the security network at the place had been beefed up and so the striking doctors and the nurses could resume work without any fears.

“I have gone round the facility and interacted with management and a cross-section of staff, and can confirm that the security arrangements put in place are adequate,” he said.

Dr. Sugri said the Ministry of Health had monitored media reports about what had happened at KATH in the past few days, particularly in connection with the missing dead baby.

He said his timely visit was to enable him assess the situation so that his ministry could address the situation effectively to forestall a future reoccurrence of the matter, which resulted in the mob attack of the doctors and the nurses.

Dr. Sugri, during his one-day visit, toured the wards at the hospital and also held a meeting with the hospital’s security staff. He was accompanied by the Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel Yaw Adusei.

The deputy health minister assured that his outfit would ensure that proper investigations were conducted into the circumstances leading to the missing baby case at the hospital, urging all parties involved in the case to corporate.

Dr. Sugri who also held a closed-door meeting with management of KATH and the leadership of the striking doctors, repeated his appeal to the staff to return to work.

Security

Doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital want management to extend protection to their homes before they would return to work.

The leadership of the striking doctors made their fresh demand during a marathon meeting with management of the hospital Monday evening.

Since the attack by some people from the Zongo community who were demanding the body of a baby born by a lady from the community – who was said to have died at birth – authorities at KATH had engaged the police to protect the hospital to prevent a possible another attack.

The doctors said at the Monday meeting that they were impressed with the current police protection, but they had other concerns which when addressed, would help matters.