The Chief Executive Officer of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah, has according to citinewsroom.com publication, disclosed that over 200 nurses and other health professionals left the hospital in 2023.
The CEO lamented that the departure of the health workers was negatively affecting the smooth operations of the facility. In an interaction with Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam and his team, during a tour of the facility, Professor Addai-Mensah appealed to the government to allow the authorities to replace the departed staff to enhance service delivery.
“In the past year, we have had over 200 Nurses leave Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Every day, I have had to approve three to five applications for either leave of absence or resignation, mostly nurses, radiographers and medical laboratory scientists. And so, we are praying that we should be allowed to replace these people who are leaving so that we can continue with the care that we are supposed to be giving to our patients,” the CEO was quoted as saying.
“One of the major things we are facing is the retooling of the hospital. We are aware of the difficulties that the government has had concerning COVID-19 and others. Still, we believe that it is also possible for some help to be extended [to us] as far as retooling is concerned, especially given the fact that we are serving twelve regions,” he added.
It is important to note that this is not the first time a health facility is complaining about exodus of Ghanaian nurses from the jurisdiction of the country. Other health facilities and government officials, including Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye, head of Ghana Health Services had, in the past, made similar complaints.
The Chronicle, however, thinks that the issue about Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital should not be treated lightly, because it is the second largest health facility in the country. Hundreds, if not thousands of patients, visit the facility on a daily basis to seek medical care. Everyone should, therefore, cringe when such a hospital is reporting shortage of nurses.
The Chronicle is happy that Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah did not raise the issue anywhere, but before the finance Minister himself. The latter, in our opinion, has no option than to look for the funds to employ more nurses to replace those who have left the second biggest health facility in the country.
As a newspaper, we are aware of the current state of the national economy, but the development can still not serve as justification for denying Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital the required nurses needed to ensure quality healthcare delivery.
It is quiet intriguing that whilst nurses are constantly picketing at the Ministry of Health premises in Accra, calling on the government to employ them, thousands of their colleagues are also leaving the shores of the country to seek greener pastures in Europe and America.
However, instead of seeing it as crisis situation, it should rather be considered as a blessing in disguise.
It is clear to us that Ghana has the capacity to produce more nurses, which she must do and export the surplus to rake in the needed forex. Cuba adopted this strategy and it is working well for them. The Caribbean country is now exporting more medical doctors, some of who are even working here in Ghana.
We believe that if we replicate this strategy in Ghana, it will help deal with the high unemployment situation in the country, whilst at the same time helping the country to get more foreign exchange to stabilise our cedi.
