Most patients who go to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for dialysis have had to be turned away due to insufficient machines.
Chief Executive Officer of the facility, Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah disclosed that the second largest hospital in Ghana does not receive out-patients for dialysis due to insufficient machines.
Describing the current situation as disheartening, Professor Addai-Mensah indicated that “we at KATH have one and half dialysis machines and it’s because one is working at full capacity and the other is working with a fault. The dialysis in this hospital is restricted to two patients who are within the hospital”.
During a visit by the new Finance Minister -Dr Mohammed Amin Adam to the hospital, the KATH CEO used the opportunity to request for retooling of the hospital as it receives referrals from 12 out of the 16 regions of Ghana.
“One of the most difficult calls I’ve had to make as a Chief Executive was when I was approached by my Medical Director who posed the question of whether or not it was okay to send patients who needed dialysis to private facilities for the procedure. As difficult as that call was, it had to be made because we do not have sufficient dialysis machines.
“The truth is that, for each dialysis session, it takes 4 hours. And so, what it means is that if you have two dialysis machines in-house and you gave 5 patients who need dialysis, what it means is that if God does not intervene, by the time it gets to the turn of the fifth person, he probably would’ve gone”, Prof Addai-Mensah explained the troubling situation to the Minister.
The absence of mammography machine to diagnose early signs of breast cancer is also a major worry to management of the hospital.
“For the past 18 years, we haven’t had even one mammography machine. And so, we are picking up breast cancer cases in stages 3 and 4. Apparently, about 70% of the cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in stage 3 and 4 basically because the effective screening that ought to be done with the help of the mammogram machine is not being done”.
“We are aware of the difficulty government has had in respect of COVID and the others, but we believe that it is also possible for some help to be extended so far as retooling is concerned especially given the fact that we are serving 12 out of the 16 regions”, Prof Addai-Mensah pleaded.
Responding to the request, the Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam reaffirmed government’s readiness to retool all health facilities to improve delivery.
“In Ashanti region alone, about 36 health infrastructure projects are being undertaken and we are going to sit down with the Minister of Health and discuss how we could fast-track whatever support we can mobilize to commission these projects to lessen the burden on KATH. Health is a priority so we will do our possible best to ensure quality medical services are provided to patrons”, he reassured.
By Ibrahim Abubakar
