The board members taking oath of office and secrecy
The Minister of Health, KwakuAgyeman-Manu has inaugurated an 11-member board of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).
The board, headed by Dr. David Nkansa-Dwamena, are expected to among others use their wealth of experience in the health sector to effectively see to the smooth running of the premier teaching hospital for the ultimate benefit of the country.
The members of the board are Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, Chief Administrator of KBTH; Jerry Ahmed Shaib, Legal Practitioner; Dr. Radha Maria Odua Hackman, Medical Practitioner; Dr. Michael Owusu, Allied Health Practitioner; Dr. Albert WireduArkoh, Pharmacist; Hannah AkuaOparebeaAcquah, Midwife; and Prof. Margaret YaaLartey, representative of Health & Education Research.
The board and Kwaku Agyeman-Manu in a group photo.
Other members of the board are Rev. Prof. Patrick Ferdinand K. Ayeh-Kumi, representative in Health & Education Research; Charles Nana Ofori, Finance & Risk Management Expert; and Samuel AdjeiOdame, Business Person.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu after leading the board to take the oath of office and secrecy said the government was looking forward to creating a medical tourism hub in the country, saying “we are getting close but we are not there yet and Korle-Bu is an institution we have targeted to achieve this”
He indicated that the government had also targeted the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), which is gradually becoming a medical tourism hub.
“Now, the next stage is for us to get international accreditation. I believe that as we begin to work with UGMC, the Korle-Bu board and management will also begin to explore how quickly they can apply for international accreditation for them to come for the assessment to enable us to begin to market what we have in our country,” he added.
He assured the board that the government would continue to invest in Korle-Bu to expand, saying “we are remodeling old facilities. We are now working on the maternity block, and the urology center has started, fevers unit virtually completed, infectious disease center has been created but not completed yet, and we are looking forward to the surgical block.”
“We are trying to put in all these because we want to build Korle-Bu for a good purpose in this country and it is you who would help us meet that objective,” he stated.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu, however, cautioned the board to make decisions that would not end in litigation as it has been the case with previous boards, saying “Korle-Bu is fond of litigation between staff and management and a larger part is about how you manage issues when they crop up so you must be forewarn that board decisions should be very efficient and quality to avoid this going to court and we don’t rush to do things that will attract us into the public domain.”
The Board Chairman assured the Minister that the members would work towards making Korle-Bu a medical tourism hub.
“With regards to Korle-Bu being a tourist place and accreditation I can assure you that on behalf of the board we will definitely be the first. I have been to a couple of them so I am quite vested in how we go about getting this accreditation,” he added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri