The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Prof. Otchere Addai-Mensah has revealed that there was remarkable progress in the performance of the hospital in the first six months of the year, 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.

He said a cursory look around the hospital also clearly showed a marked improvements in its infrastructure and work environment during the period under review thanks to the enormous support from the Board, staff and cherished partner.

Prof. Addai-Mensah stated this in a welcome address delivered at the hospital’s 2023 mid-year performance review conferenced organised to assess the operations of the hospital for the first half of the year.

Prof. Addai-Mensah said Specialist O.P.D. cases registered for the period was 133,267 as against a target of 123,971 representing a positive variance of 7.50 per cent. Primary Care O.P.D. cases also went up to 31,378 which was 14 per cent above the set target of 27,500 cases. Surgical operations for the period were 10, 375, about 27 per cent above the target of 8,100.

“In line with our theme for the year which is driving a customer-centric agenda for health care delivery: the role of management, staff and stakeholders, managements during the period implemented a number of measures to improve patients’ experience at the hospital.

“This was achieved through a combination of interventions including improved staff output, early start of clinics, availability of medical consumables, laboratory reagents and pharmaceutical products and enhanced supervision and enforcement of discipline by executive management”, he stated.

Prof. Addai Mensah also disclosed that for the first time in history of the hospital, the use of Momo and POS payments options were introduced for settling patients’ bills and this had proven so popular that the cumulative payments made through them to date since their introduction in March 2023 stood around Ghc 2.2 million by the end of June 2023.

He expressed the hospital’s appreciation to a number of partners who supported management to execute a number of facelifts projects for some of the facilities at the hospital.

“We are grateful for the massive support from partners such as Nuece Ghana Paints Industry Limited, Osons Chemist, Jemfi Ventures and Alex Nuamah Enterprise, who helped the hospital during the first half of the year to undergo its largest facelift in its recent history.

He said thanks to their support of the partners, many of the rundown facilities at the hospital such as the Doctors’ Flats, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Laundry, Breast Care, Finance, and the fence wall of the Family Medicine Directorate which were in a very deplorable state had been given a major facelift.

The CEO further announced that another major facelift project which is likely to commence in the coming months was the Asantehene-led initiative to raise 10,000.00 United States Dollars (USD) for the comprehensive renovation of the old “Gee” blocks.

He said as widely publicized by the press, the master plan for the comprehensive renovation of the old blocks had been developed for execution as part of the Asantehene’s 25th anniversary legacy projects next year.

Prof Otchere Addai-Mensah seized the opportunity to appreciate the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for his impeccable leadership in the initiation of the project which will be the first of its kind since the construction of the hospital in 1955.

He was also grateful to the “Heal Komfo Anokye Project” (HeKAP) team, a group of engineering, real estate development and marketing communication experts, who came together to develop the master plan for the project at no cost to the hospital.

Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah