Angry Korle-Bu Doctors Threaten Strike

State of insecurity…..

By Sammy Agyei

Angry and terrified junior doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital yesterday threatened to embark on a sit-down strike if authorities failed to take measures to provide adequate security for them.

The doctors, who have accused the authorities of failure to execute a promise to light up the area with enough street lights, blame the poor security situation for the death of their colleague over the weekend.

The 27-year old Desmond Kabbah was discovered naked on his bed with stab wounds, with bits of the skin on his leg peeled off.

The incident has left the doctors and members of the Korle-Bu community living under fear, uncertain about who the next victim would be.

According to the doctors, their fear had been heightened because they were unable to ascertain the cause of death of their colleague, whether it was an armed robbery attack or serial killing.

In a petition presented to the authorities of the hospital yesterday, the doctors demanded a 24-hour police patrol of their flats and its environs.

Vincent Ganu, President of the House Officers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, expressed disappointment at the lukewarm attitude of the authorities, adding that 24 hours after the body of their murdered colleague was found, the hospital authorities had not taken any steps to guarantee their security.

He later said on Accra based Joy FM that the mood of almost all the medical practitioners of the hospital “is that of anger, that of sadness and generally that of mourning.”

Dr. Ganu added that they had not felt any safer, especially after the incident, with no realistic assurance of guaranteed surety and safety from management of the hospital.

Presenting the petition, Dr Ganu said he and his colleagues just wanted to be assured that “good and adequate source of lighting will be provided in the house officers' flats and its surroundings (that is, pathways or roads that lead to and from the flats).”

The doctors also demanded “24 hour patrol team (made of policemen and the Korle-Bu security men), which would patrol the flats and its environs consistently, especially at night” and beef up in security at the flats and evidence of at least an able bodied security man at flats that formally did not have any form of security.”

Director of Pharmacy the hospital, Elizabeth Bruce, who received the petition, assured the doctors that their demands would be met to ensure that they get the required peace of mind to go about their duties.

Director of Police Operations, Patrick Timbilla, who was at the hospital today, urged the doctors to see security a shared responsibility, and advised them against inviting unknown persons into the hospital’s enclave.