Stranded patients at KATH plead for dialogue amid doctors' strike over CEO's suspension

Correspondence from Ashanti region

The healthcare crisis that has hit the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has left hundreds of patients stranded and they are desperately pleading for their lives.

The crisis follows a strike action declared by the hospital's doctors in protest against the government's suspension of KATH’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Paa Kwasi Baidoo.

The industrial action has brought clinical services at the nation's second-largest referral facility to a near-halt, forcing many patients, some of whom traveled from distant regions to go without critical medical attention.

The standoff began last week after the Ministry of Health suspended the KATH CEO, Dr Paa Kwasi Baidoo, along with other management members.

The suspension was triggered by a controversial communique issued by the hospital's management, which announced the temporary suspension of all new emergency and accident admissions due to a severe shortage of beds.

In a show of solidarity with their suspended leader, the doctors laid down their tools, arguing that the bed deficit was a systemic issue rather than a failure of leadership.

Speaking to this reporter, several frustrated and ailing patients described the strike as a double tragedy, noting that the impasse has severely worsened their medical conditions.

Many appealed to both the government and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to initiate immediate, peaceful negotiations to end the deadlock.

One patient, identified as Kwame Atta, narrated his ordeal after arriving at the facility in the early hours of the morning.

"We arrived here around 3:00 AM and waited for over three hours without receiving any attention, only to be told that the doctors were on strike. People are really suffering here. I brought a patient whose condition keeps deteriorating. We are begging both the government and the doctors to find a peaceful resolution so the doctors can return to work," some patients lamented.

A female patient, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed fear that the prolonged strike could result in preventable deaths.

"We are begging the doctors to come back. My medical condition requires urgent attention," she lamented. "I came here last month and was scheduled for a review today. Now, this strike is affecting me severely because my health is worsening. We are told the doctors are striking because the CEO was suspended. We urge the government to immediately do the needful so the doctors can take care of us. We are dying," she decried.

As of the time of filing this report, the strike remains in full force, with no immediate resolution in sight.