The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has temporarily suspended the admission of new cases at its Accident and Emergency Centre following a latest wave of congestion at the health facility.

A statement released by the hospital’s Public Affairs unit noted that the Centre was full and overflowing with waiting patients, compelling the hospital not to admit new emergency cases for the next 24 hours.

Head of Public Affairs Unit at KATH, Kwame Frimpong, emphasized that the A&E Centre, which was originally designed as a 37-bed facility, currently has 61 patients on admission at its Orange, Yellow and Red critical wards with 34 others waiting in queue to be tended to.

He indicated that in order not to unduly endanger the lives of critically ill-patients, the hospital’s management has deemed it appropriate to temporarily curtail further admissions.

This would ensure that the backlog of cases would be attended to in the next 24 hours before new ones could be admitted.

The hospital has, consequently, urged the public to make use of peripheral hospitals in the region until the situation at its A&E Centre improves in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the management of the hospital is engaging the leadership of the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate to lay proactive measures for the satellite hospitals in the region to complement healthcare delivery before the situation improves.

The hospital is, however, assuring that all its neonatal, paediatric and obstetric emergency facilities have not been affected by the current temporary suspension of new cases.

“The current situation is being periodically reviewed as our emergency physician specialists and other medical staff are doing their best to manage the surge in cases at the A&E Centre and new admissions will be allowed as soon as things get under control,” the statement read.

The KATH currently serves 12 out of the 16 administrative regions of Ghana, pushing the only referral centre under critical constraint and congestion.