The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has turned some patients away to private facilities due to insufficient dialysis equipment.

KATH is a referral hospital for most people but is unable to meet the needs of its dialysis patients due to a shortage of equipment.

During a meeting with the Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adams, the Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Professor Dr. Otchere Addai-Mensah explained that the hospital's two dialysis machines are not enough to meet the demand by patients.

In an interview with Joy News, he said that one of the machines is non-functional, leaving only one machine available.

“The dialysis in this hospital is restricted to two patients who are within the hospital. One of the most difficult calls I have had to make as the chief executive was when I was approached by my medical director who posed a question as to whether or not he was okay to send patients who needed dialysis to private facilities. As difficult as that call was, it had to be made because we do not have sufficient dialysis machines,” he said.

Dr. Addai noted that each dialysis procedure takes up to 4 hours which means that if there is a long queue of patients, some may have to wait for extended periods of time.

In addition to the lack of machines, he noted that the hospital has been without a mammography machine for the past 18 years.

“We are picking up breast cancer cases in stages 3 and 4. Apparently about 70% of the cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in stage 3 and stage 4 basically because the effective screening that ought to be done with the help of a mammography machine is not being done,” he said.

The CEO explained that the emergency centre at KATH is overcrowded and cannot accommodate all patients who require care.

He stated that closing the centre for even one day could have fatal consequences for patients who are turned away.

“Orange Ward is meant for 12 but we currently have about 42 patients. Yellow is meant for 18, we have about 27 patients. Red is meant for 7, we have about 10 patients there as we speak now.”

The Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adams, stated that 14 million euros have been made available for the construction of the Mother and Baby Unit at KATH.

This funding is intended to improve the facilities and capacity of the hospital, which will help to address the issues raised by Dr. Addai, he assured.

“Because of the concern by our president, the directive for us to find money and address these outstanding infrastructure issues. You have seen us moving very quickly and this visit by me demonstrates the commitment to addressing this challenges so we can bring relief to the people of Kumasi, Ashanti region. And I know that lots of cases are referred to Komfo Anokye from other regions of the country,” he said.