Korle Bu staff in tears over Anyah’s departure

The staff of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for the time in recent history organised a send-off party for its departing Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) and the beneficiary is Dr Felix Anyah.

The staff, who have been at loggerheads with most of the past CEOs, this time shed tears and gave memorable testimonies about Dr. Anyah’s tenure at the beleaguered health institution for just a year.

“Dr. Anyah Sakora, you have done well. You are the one who taught us to be gentle. You used your own money to seek the welfare of the hospital,” some of the staff eulogised.

At an official handing over ceremony for the former Acting CEO yesterday at the hospital premises, almost all the heads of departments gathered at the newly renovated Emergency Ward, Out Patient Department (OPD), to bid him farewell.

Dr. Anyah, who first heard about the termination of his appointment in the media, said “it was such a joy to be asked to serve my nation, especially in my field of expertise. I was in church on the Sunday I was asked to be the CEO of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, I was shocked since I felt the position was for younger men.”

He said his vision for KBTH was to transform the hospital into a Medical Tourism Hub in the sub-region, where service delivery will improve to attract foreign exchange and reduce the over dependence on the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

Dr Anyah told the gathering that he never received salary or allowance; he used his own car for official duties and stayed in his own house. He identified four thematic areas that needs to be addressed for the hospital to receive a facelift.

The areas are acquisition of end-to-end software that will synchronise the hospital operations, billing, revenue collection and bed management, involve staff in the designing, scheduling and delivery of projects, provision of Legislative Instrument for the hospital and legal framework to guide the Management of the Centre of Excellence.

According to him, the limited involvement of staff of the hospital in designing, scheduling and delivering of projects was one of the reasons why the hospital was draining its Internally Generated Funds on completing projects not budgeted for and sometimes results in poor service on the part of the health professionals.

Reiterating the need for a legal framework, he emphasised: “Getting a legal frame work for the centre of excellence is key to managing emerging legal issues. This is especially important on issues concerning procurement.

The absence of governing Board to oversee these and several other legal issues can result in avoidable legal entanglements and he argued that workers of the hospital are hard working but it was the system that had not been fair to them.

Achievements As Acting CEO of KBTH

Dr. Anyah during his tenure had the oxygen plant repaired and restored and the hospital is currently saving between GH¢80,000 to GH¢100,000 monthly on purchase of oxygen from private suppliers.

Provision of digital telecommunication system, painting some of the blocks, signed memorandum understanding with Golf Medical Centre to help with the end-to-end health management system and installation of a 150kVA stabilizer to protect autoclaves and other equipment.

Awards

The former CEO in 2017 received the overall best (private/public), best CEO healthcare and KBTH under his watch was adjudged the overall best hospital of the year.

Personal Contribution

As his personal contribution, he donated motorbikes to enhance security, air conditioners for the physiotherapy department, mattresses to the polyclinic, food van to the catering unit, anesthesia drugs and water pumps. He prayed that the new management will continue with the good work he has started.