TTH brouhaha: MoH to blame – OB Amoah

The Ministry of Health handled the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) poorly, hence the confusion that has arisen, OB Amoah, Deputy Minister of Local Government, has said.

According to him, it was wrong for the Ministry to have issued an appointment letter to a new CEO while the incumbent had not been officially notified of his transfer.

Dr Prosper Akanbong, the CEO of the hospital who was expected to vacate the office for a new CEO to take over, has refused to hand over to the new appointee, Dr David Zaawumya Kolbila.

Dr Akanbong is to hand over to Dr Kolbila, a gynaecologist and lecturer at the University for Development Studies Medical School, but refuses to do so following government’s failure to, among other things, compensate him. Also, he said he had not been officially written to by the Ministry of Health announcing the appointment of a new CEO.

The MoH admitted to failing to communicate to him the appointment of a new CEO. The PRO, Robert Cudjoe, indicated that the letter did not reach him on time.

Commenting on this matter on TV 3’s New Day on Saturday June 17, Mr Amoah said: “Regarding this matter, I heard the PRO for the Ministry of Health admitting that they made a mistake.

“You don’t write to the person taking over and copy the person there and say that: ‘I have done my job’.

“If you want to terminate or relocate or transfer, you have to write a formal letter given the situation. You don’t just say that because you have copied him he has to vacate. The worst part of the matter is that they said they were organising a send-off for him, definitely this is bad.”