Rejoinder: Tamale Teaching Hospital ranked worst performing Hospital in Northern Region

I read on your website about the purported ranking of the Tamale Teaching Hospital as the "worst performing hospital in Northern Region". I would like to state unequivocally that your reporting on the subject is inaccurate due to an uninformed grasp of how a teaching hospital works.

Tamale Teaching Hospital is a teaching hospital, not a district or regional hospital. Its status as a teaching hospital should be recognized. I want to be clear that TTH's position as a teaching hospital does not allow it to report its data on the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS); a platform from which the source of the alleged ranking gets its information. The immediate concerns are what kind of data was used to rank the Tamale Teaching Hospital, and where did it come from?

I believe that the Tamale Teaching Hospital should be ranked alongside the other four Ghanaian teaching hospitals that report data to the Teaching Hospitals Information Management System (THIMS). This is the only place where TTH data can be obtained for precise analysis and ranking.

I disagree entirely with this erroneous ranking and hope that it does not distract the Tamale Teaching Hospital from its mandate of providing excellent care, teaching, and research.

Fair reporting is an important issue in media ethics and law, and it is my honest expectation that all media outlets are reminded of this. I urge the public to ignore the alleged ranking and treat it with contempt.

The Tamale Teaching Hospital operates an open-door policy and is always ready to clarify issues. We equally wish to encourage everyone to seek clarification on matters that concern the Hospital before going public.

Zuberu Aliu (Public Affairs,) Tamale Teaching Hospital