Korle Bu appeals for more doctors, nurses to boost emergency care

Management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is calling for more doctors and nurses to ease pressure on its overstretched Accident and Emergency Centre.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Yakubu Seidu Adam, told Parliament’s Health Committee that the 64-bed emergency unit receives a high volume of accident victims and other emergency cases from across the country every day, stretching its limited staff.

He explained that although Korle Bu has many doctors, most of them are trainees who leave after completing their training. This, he said, leaves the hospital without enough permanent medical officers to run critical units such as the Accident and Emergency Centre and the Intensive Care Unit.

“This is a training institution. We have a number of doctors, but when we look at our numbers, most of them are not our staff. It’s a training institution; they come, we train them, and they go,” Dr. Adam said.

He said the hospital needs its own permanent doctors, as well as more nurses, to support timely and effective patient care.

Dr. Adam noted that management had already raised the staffing concerns with the Director of Human Resources and the Minister of Health, but used the meeting with MPs to renew the appeal.

The appeal comes as management also pushes for a new emergency facility to help reduce pressure on the existing centre.