With the exception of emergency cases, all new surgical procedures have been suspended at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) due to acute water shortage.
The Hospital’s Management has confirmed that the lack of running water is severely hampering the delivery of essential healthcare services. For more than a week now, the second largest referral hospital in Ghana, KATH, has been operating without water flowing through its tap.
“For a hospital like this to be denied water services for 10 days is quite worrying. We have done the best we can, but it is beyond us. We’ve collaborated with Ghana Water company, National Fire Service, and private water tanker providers to supply us daily water, but it is still inadequate looking at our consumption rate. This is really having a huge toll on healthcare delivery services”, Kwame Frimpong, Head of Public Affairs at KATH lamented.
The water crisis has gotten to a point where doctors have suspended new surgical procedures.
“Some of the surgical operations have been put on hold to allow the doctors concentrate on the emergency ones because our operations are such that it’s water dependent for infection prevention and control purposes”, Mr Frimpong emphasized.
The situation has left many patients who require surgical procedures stranded.
Reacting to the crisis, the Ghana Water Limited says, the shortage is as a result of the burst of one of its main transmission pipelines around Abrepo, which will require the closure on the main Abrepo-Bohyen road before fixing.
Efforts are however underway to fix the situation and restore water supply to the hospital and all affected areas.
Meanwhile, Management of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital is appealing to government to invest in getting the facility a dedicated line from the water company to ensure uninterrupted water supply.
