Professor Rita Akosua Dicckson, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), says the university’s partnership with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), has helped to produce professionals in the health sciences who were making great impact on the global stage.
Prof. Dickson said KATH had for many years helped students of the university to effectively marry theory with practice and there was the need for the two institutions to constantly deepen their collaborations to ensure the continuous production of some of the best minds in the field of medicine and health sciences for the country and the world.
She was speaking when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KATH, Prof. Otchere Addai-Mensah, paid a courtesy call on her to formally introduce himself as the new head of the hospital.
Prof. Addai-Mensah, a former Dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences of the University, assumed duty as the new CEO of KATH in December 2022, and has been paying courtesy calls on a number of external stakeholders to also seek their support for improving the operations of the hospital.
Prof. Dickson explained that given the huge increase in the intake of students including those in the clinical programmes, KATH would continue to remain relevant to the training mandate of the university even with the establishment of more teaching sites and the eventual completion of its teaching hospital.
“We have no plans of changing our relationship with KATH as far as our quest for producing world class health care professionals are concerned and we remain committed to deepening this highly impactful bond in the years ahead,” she stressed.
Prof. Dickson noted that like all relationships, there were likely to be periodic incidence of frictions between the two institutions, but it was important that they resort to dialogue in resolving any differences so that both could reinforce each other to fulfil their respective mandates.
Prof. Addai-Mensah admitted that as the teaching hospital of the university, the umbilical cords of the two institutions were intrinsically linked and, therefore, they had no option than to deepen their existing collaborations.
He said regrettably, there had been some intermittent difficulties between the hospital management and the Senior Specialists and Consultants of the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the university working at the hospital, a situation which was undermining the delivery of quality specialist services to patients.
“So soon upon my assumption of duty, I met the parties concerned to resolve all the differences and to give my word that there will be equality and fairness as far as appointments and payment of allowances were concerned irrespective of whether or not one was a KNUST or KATH staff,” Prof Addai Mensah submitted.
Prof. Addai-Mensah said fortunately, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed by the two institutions to ensure a fair and equitable regulation of the relationship between them and provide the framework for resolving any emerging difficulties and differences.
He also disclosed that his management had instituted several measures to enhance the hospital’s operations through close supervision and discipline enforcement.
“These measures have resulted in discernible improvements in staff attendance at work, patients’ numbers and revenues of the hospital and it is the hope of management that it can continue to count on the support of KNUST and all stakeholders as it strives to improve services to the public,” he stated.
