Doctors call for appointment of new Board

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called on President John Dramani Mahama to, as a matter of urgency; appoint a new Management Board for Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to support the new Chief Executive Officer.

The GMA said despite the intervention of the President in appointing a new CEO to the Teaching Hospital, the fundamental problems that led to the new appointment still existed.

“What is clear is that if the new CEO works with the old management Board, the status quo is likely not to change,” the Association said in statement. The statement was signed by the GMA President, Dr Kwabena Opoku Adusei and the General Secretary, Dr Frank Serebour after the third National Executive Council Meeting of the Association and copied to the GNA.

The GMA expressed concern about the recent management position wrangling at the Hospital and said proper management of the hospital mirrored the quality of care provided by the facility.

The GMA said it had cause in the past to write to the President to protest the appointment of non-health personnel to head major health institutions in the country.

“The Ghana Medical and Dental Practitioner is the traditional leader of the health service team and hence play a pivotal role in the provision of good health service. It will therefore be suicidal and inappropriate for the medical and dental practitioners to be pushed aside when it comes to the management of major health institutions in the country”, it said.

The GMA expressed concern about the recent outbreak of Ebola in some countries in the sub-region and urged the Ministry of Health to set up isolation centres across the country, provide appropriate personal protective equipment, large scale public education on preventive measures and early identification of cases among others.

The GMA also spoke about the recent cholera outbreak and appealed to the Municipal and District assemblies to put in place effective mechanisms to address the improper sanitary practices in their jurisdictions to stem the spread of the diseases.

The GMA said it is in the process of putting together some education materials for distribution to update the public on both Ebola and Cholera”.