The recent infamous missing baby saga at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has triggered some major reforms and enhanced protocol at the hospital.
The hospital has also set up a new six-bed intensive care unit at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Directorate to help manage complicated cases.
Again, the hospital has renewed its clinical care protocol scheme and is redesigning its in-house staff training modules.
Speaking at a meet-the-press meeting in Kumasi, the acting CEO of KATH, Mr Isaiah Offeh Gyimah, said after the Suweiba missing baby saga, the customer care skills of staff had been enhanced.
Impact on hospital’s performance
Mr Gyimah patted himself and staff on the back for coming out stronger from the sad incident for which workers were attacked and vilified.
“The performance of the hospital in the first six months of the year has been largely satisfactory. We have rebounded nicely in the face of adversity to clock some of our best outputs over the past five years,” he said.
The hospital has embarked on some major projects, including the renovation of the Ear, Nose And Throat (ENT) building and the repair of its obsolete oxygen plant for in-house production of oxygen to reduce the amount of money spent on the product.
On the deadly Ebola disease, Mr Gyimah said an epidemic preparedness committee was to be set up under the chairmanship of a medical director to oversee the hospital’s preparations to manage all infectious diseases.
In addition to that, the training of staff had begun and flyers developed to educate staff and the general public on the deadly disease.
The Recovery Ward of the Polyclinic has been designated as a temporary isolation bay and some structural changes are being made.
Background
Suweiba Mumin went to the KATH to deliver on February 5, 2014, but lost the baby under bizarre circumstances, an incident that incensed some Muslim youth who attacked doctors, nurses and hospital staff, demanding the remains of the infant for burial as the Islamic religion demanded.
Suweiba insisted that the baby was alive when the midwives placed it on her, as is the practice.
But hospital authorities could not produce the baby, dead or alive.
As later events unfolded, the bodies of four other babies allegedly stillborn could not be found, leading to public outcry and interesting conspiracy theories, prompting police investigations. The Ministry of Health (MoH) also constituted a body to look into the matter to ascertain the truth.
Source: Graphic Online