A 10-member Executive Board with Mr. Philip Sowah,Managing Director of Airtel Ghana as chairman was on Friday inaugurated by the Minister of Health, Ms. Sherry Ayittey in Cape Coast to transform the Central Regional Hospital into a Teaching Hospital.
The members are Dr. Daniel Asare, Chief Executive Officer of CCTH, Professor Harold Amonoo-Kuofi, Dean, School of Medical Sciences of the University of Cape Coast UCCSMS), Dr. Eric Ngyedu, Clinical Director, Mr. Emmanuel Adjei- Frimpong Administrator and Mrs. Cecilia Nancy Duedu, Director of Nursing Services all of the CCTH.
The rest are, Mr. Samuel Teiku, Mr. Bismarck Attah Adjepong, Pharmacy Manager, CCTH, Nana Prah Ayensaim VI, Paramount Chief of Assin Kushea Traditional area and Mrs. Victoria Kakra Brown, a retired educationist.
With the Board now in place, the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) becomes the fourth and newest Teaching Hospital in the country, after Korle Bu, Okomfo-Anokye and Tamale.
Ms. Ayittey noted that the establishment of more Teaching Hospitals will break the health service delivery gap between urban and rural areas, adding that health was a humanitarian issue guaranteed by the Constitution, and government will ensure equity distribution of health personnel.
The Minister said one of the priorities of the Health Ministry was the provision of quality health care and this could be achieved with qualified and adequate health staff.
The Ministry was putting in place directive measures to curb the challenges of staff inadequacy as well as hospital equipment.
Ms. Ayittey urged members of the board to be proactive and always put up their best in ensuring that their goals and visions were met to the benefit of the Region and the nation at large.
She tasked the Board to design its personnel training strategy that will help the Hospital, and refrain from being overly dependent on government, but solicit for funds from private entities to ease the burden on government.
The Health Minister commended Management of the Hospital for its tireless efforts in ensuring that it was transformed into a Teaching Hospital.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Dr. Daniel Asare said health care delivery required lot of skilled professionals, especially nurses and doctors, and other important personnel, and regretted that CCTH, a 400-bed facility had less than 140 professional nurses.
He said the two Administrators, Accountant and a Biomedical engineer was not enough for CCTH, and appealed for personnel to be employed or posted to the Hospital to ensure its smooth running.
Dr. Asare appealed for an exploitation of private-public partnership to have more staff accommodation for the Health Staff since their accommodation was woefully inadequate.
He said the swiftness of putting the Executive Board was because of such challenges, and promised that members of the board will bring improvements to the lives of many patients, hardworking staff and the community as a whole.
He revealed that Management was in the process of finalizing the five-year strategic plan that will see the hospital becoming a leader locally, nationally and internationally, and called for team work, partnership and inter-sectional collaboration between the Ministries of Health and Education, and the Community.
The out-going Central Regional Minister, Dr. Samuel Sarpong, said the setting up of the Teaching Hospital in Cape Coast was timely and laudable, because aside the provision of quality health service, it will tremendously assist in the creation of manpower and training of health professionals.
He said government had seen their effort and hence will provide all the needed modern facilities, equipment and resources to enable the hospital to run efficiently.
Dr. Sarpong urged the board to find ways of mobilizing the Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of the facility to increase its revenue base, to enable the hospital to procure its vital equipment since one hand cannot do it alone.
He assured the Board and the Hospital Management that the Regional Co-ordination Councils doors are opened to discuss appropriate strategies which they intend adopting to ensure the smooth running of the Hospital.
He encouraged the staff to be very supportive of the Board since they will be working for the betterment of the Hospital and the entire country.
Prof. Amoono-Kuofi, indicated that the UCCSMS would strive to produce doctors with excellent clinical skills with broad ranging clinical experience and commitment to independent life-long learning to help improve health care delivery.
The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Philip Sowah promised to work diligently in achieving the goals of the Hospital as well as making the institution a world-class Hospital, and called for collaborative efforts from the Members and the Ministry.
GNA
