The Management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has denied reports that some critical surgeries were canceled on Monday, 29th April 2024 due to power outages bedeviling the facility in recent times.
Reports emerged in the media on Monday that patients requiring critical medical procedures were returned to their wards due to the power outages popularly known as ‘dumsor.’
However, the Hospital stated through a statement released on Tuesday, 30th April 2024 that work started on all elective cases in its theatres, on Monday, and operations were conducted as scheduled.
“However, we experienced a low current for about 45 minutes. In the face of the low current that emanated from a problem at one of the substations of ECG, our functional standby generators came on stream and provided power for work to continue until the problem was resolved”.
Korle Bu
The statement also clarified that two cases at the Department of Surgery were returned to the ward at the end of the day on account of limited space in the recovery ward and not because of power outage.
The press release emphasized that the rest of the other theatres spread across the hospital carried out their surgeries as scheduled.
The Hospital also assured its patients and the general public that it prioritizes their care and will continue to work to provide excellent services to address their health needs as a leading national referral hospital.
As such, the Hospital appealed to the public to exercise great caution in publishing stories that are not fully verified.
The Hospital argued that these false stories undermine public confidence and create unnecessary fear and discomfort among its patients.
Government To Provide Solutions
Furthermore, the Minister of Health Designate, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, has assured that the government is committed to resolving the power situation at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
“Yesterday, I was in Korle Bu and spent about five hours and had engagements with management, and from there we visited a GH¢25 million and 35 million Euros center and when we left, we heard that surgeries had been canceled because of power outages”.
Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye
Moreover, he indicated that Korle Bu Hospital is no small hospital as it oversees over 2,000 Out Patient Department (OPD) cases a day and 200 admissions a day.
As such, he urged Ghanaians to desist from creating the impression that everything is failing due to the current power situation.
He also indicated that Korle Bu has standby generators in all its units including the theatres , hence, it was unnecessary to make the public panic by spreading false information.
He assured the public that the government, through the Ministry of Health, will ensure that all the other units in the facility that have power challenges will have those challenges addressed.
Meanwhile, the implications of the current power interruption on health facilities nationwide have been a matter of concern to the general public.
Recently, the Minority in Parliament charged the Ministry of Energy to collaborate with relevant agencies to ensure that all health facilities nationwide are exempted from the current unannounced and unscheduled electricity load shedding and power outages.
The Minority also suggested that the Ministry of Health should work in tandem with the Ghana Health Service to audit all alternate power supply systems within health facilities to determine their capacity and reliability in handling electricity disruptions.
The Minority emphasized that the Ministry must procure emergency power supply systems for health facilities with inadequate power supply systems.
The NDC also charged the Ministry of Health to ensure that resources are made available to the various health facilities to procure fuel for the operation of generators and also ensure periodic maintenance of alternative power supply systems to enhance their reliability.
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