Korle-Bu CEO Breaks Into Pharmacy To Save Lives

Following the almost a week long strike by government pharmacist, the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Prof. Nii Otu Nartey, is reported to have broken into the hospital’s pharmacy store to dispense drugs to dying patients.

Members of the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association have been on strike since last Tuesday over their migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure.

An eyewitness told Citi News the CEO might have acted in desperation. However, the chairman of the Pharmacists Association, Stephen Corquaye, said the CEO’s action was illegal. Confirming the incident in an interview with The Al-Hajj, the CEO of the nation’s Premier Teaching Hospital, Prof. Nii Otu Nartey said, that was the only resort for him to save further lives after all appeals to the striking pharmacists to surrender keys to their shop fell on death ears. “I am the CEO of Korle Bu and I have an obligation to our patient, we have emergency cases like accidents, burns, theatre etc… which will require some selected drugs in the stores, so when I asked them to bring me they keys and they refused, my only alternative to save further lives was to call the security people and a carpenter to break in…” Prof. Nartey told The Al-Hajj that, even though, they operate two types of distribution chains, that is, the medical store and the pharmacy stores which is directly under the pharmacist, all attempts at getting keys for either stores proved futile, hence his action. But, the chairman of the Pharmacists Association, Mr. Stephen Corquaye in an interview with citifmonline doesn’t seemed to be enthused, insisting, the CEO’s action is illegal and contravenes the pharmacy law.

“The pharmacy store by law is supposed to be managed by a pharmacist because of the nature of the drugs which are grouped into class A and class B. The Pharmacy Act has specified that anyone who releases those drugs must be a pharmacist,” Corquaye argued.

Mr. Corquaye described the incident of “a non pharmacist dispensing drugs as unfortunate.”

He said: “This shouldn’t have been the case. If there was the need for you to attend to emergencies, you could have amicably discussed with the pharmacists in that institution because we also supply emergencies to facilities.”