Korle-Bu Chop-Chop War Continuous �..Pharmacy Department Shuts Down Today?

The pharmacists at the Pharmacy Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), are up in arms against the Board and management of the hospital, over their decision to take over the Revolving Drug Account for the procurement of drugs. According to reports, the pharmacists are not enthused about the management decision and are planning a sit down strike, if the Board Chairman, Edward Annan and the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prof. Albert Okpoti Botwe, does not reverse their decision to take away the revolving fund, under the auspices of the pharmacy department. The pharmacists, have threatened to embark on a sit down strike today, to press home a reversal of the decision to take away the revolving fund and remove the Director of Pharmacy, Elizabeth Bruce, as a mandatory signatory. The pharmacists, alerted that they would only attend to in-patients, while all out-patients would be left to their fate at the hospital. Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has been embroiled in battle of words, over who is misapplying or mismanaging the hospital fund meant for the running of the nation�s biggest hospital. While the staff is accusing the board and management of spending huge cash for their own comfort to the neglect of the beds, water, drugs and other essential materials for the effective running of the hospital, the board and management accuse the staff of creating ghost names on the payroll, which they are using to siphon cash from the hospital�s coffers. Confirming the decision to strike today to The Herald in an exclusive interview, Raymond Tetteh, spokesman for Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital pharmacists said, the fund as it stands was for the procurement of drugs for the department in times of exigencies. He said, the provisions made to include the Director of pharmacy as mandatory signatory, were made in the establishment of the revolving fund to protect the account from being dissipated by management. According to him, store regulations Act 1984, where the department controls the store, were also to protect pharmacies across the country, hence the stores cannot also be taken from the department. He explained that the decision by Director of Finance of the hospital, not to allow the Director of Pharmacy as a mandatory signatory to the account would not be countenance. It is not as if the Director of Pharmacy is the sole signatory of the account, but an accountant is assigned from the Finance Director�s office, who issues the cheques for the purchase of the drugs on the technical advice of the Director of Pharmacy on the type of medicines and quantity to buy. Mr. Tetteh, noted that it beats the imagination of members of his department, when the Director of Finance and Acting CEO came for the cheques to the revolving accounts. The spokesperson said, the purchase of the drugs even goes to tender, therefore, the action on the part of the Director of Finance is an affront to the sensibilities of members of the department. He said, the drug account has been protected all these years for the purchase of drugs for the pharmacy department. Mr. Tetteh, expressed the department�s displeasure at the actions of the new director of finance and the Acting CEO; a board member, who has shockingly been elevated to the position, albeit illegally drawing salaries of GH�12, 000 and other allowances. The Acting CEO, is also believed to be drawing money from the Korle-Bu- kitty as a board member. He said, areas where these funds are left in the custody of people without the technical know-how, there are always shortage of drugs so, �we will not allow this to happen in Korle-Bu hospital because; here is a teaching hospital for referral cases across the country.