Although he did not provide the names and details of the companies, the Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso, said there was an ongoing audit to identify those companies and the suspects involved.

Event

Addressing the hospital’s 2017 annual review workshop in Kumasi last Wednesday, the CEO said the hospital had also taken measures to subject all transactions there to review by the audit team.

He explained that those actions formed part of measures to reduce “wastage drastically by taking a critical look into all procurement practices and payment systems”. 

“Management aims to ensure that every penny earned at this hospital is duly collected, accounted for and spent wisely to ensure quality patient care,” he added.

Oxygen plant

Dr Owusu-Danso announced that the hospital had secured approval from the Ministry of Health to seek private funding for the procurement of a new oxygen plant to replace the existing one that is 20 years old.

He said four companies had been shortlisted for initial evaluation by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and the Central Tender Committee.

He expressed the hope that the processes would be completed with dispatch to enable the plant to be provided by next week.

He expressed worry over the shortage of some critical staff, infrastructure and equipment and the high operational cost in the year under review.

Cases

He said specialist OPD attendance recorded 268,753 cases, as against 261,083 cases in 2016, an increase of 2.96 per cent.

Diagnostic services, he said, also recorded 318,181 cases, as against 263,347 cases in 2016, an increase of 20.82 per cent, while emergency cases dropped from 17,804 in 2016 to 16,818, a drop of 5.54