Tamale Teaching Hospital management warns staff against malpractices

By Caesar Abagali, GNA

Tamale, Oct. 25, GNA – Management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has called on the staff to desist from any form of activities that could undermine the integrity of the facility.

This was contained in a circular written to all departments of the hospital on Tuesday, October 17, 2017, addressed to all staff and signed by Dr David Z. Kolbila, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The directive followed a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report which indicated that some health personnel especially doctors allegedly took advantage of patients at the facility to enrich themselves.

The circular said,  “Management has received several complaints from the public, including formal petitions from identifiable groups such as youth groups and traditional authorities on the issue of rampant extortions of monies from patients by some individual staff from almost all departments of the hospital”,

“I am sending this stern warning out to all staff to, henceforth; desist from any form of extortion of monies from patients without the issuance of official receipts”, it added.

“The complaints of rampant extortions cut across most departments, from the theatres, the mortuary, radiology, laboratory, and indeed almost everywhere in the hospital”

The circular also said: “of late the hospital was on the spotlight in the Tamale Metropolis as it had been a major topic for discussion in the media”.

Dr Kolbila therefore directed that all payments in the hospital should be made only at the HFC payment points and that all payments should be issued with printed receipts.

He warned that no department should attempt to print and issue fake receipts to patients while the sale of items to patients without receipts was also prohibited.

According to the circular, any staff caught engaging in any form of extortion, including the sale of items to patients without official receipts would be dealt with severely to instill sanity at the facility.

Last week, the GNA reported that some health personnel especially doctors had allegedly turned the TTH into a money making centre to enrich themselves to the neglect of performing their assigned duties to generate money for the facility.

Meanwhile unconfirmed reports to the GNA indicated that five staff of the Hospital would be sanctioned should investigations confirm their alleged involvement in pilfering of items belonging to the facility.

A GNA source indicated that the five, who were currently under investigations on the instructions of the acting CEO, were reported to have engaged in various shady deals.

Meanwhile Dr Tolgou Yempabe, Head of the Trauma and Orthopaedic Ward told the GNA that the hospital had no implants and showed the GNA, patients, some of whom with multiple fractures on both legs, who needed urgent surgery.

GNA

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