?korle Bu Hospital Receives Licence to Operate Legally

By Kingsley Asare

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has been issued a licence by the Health Facilities Regulatory Agencies (HeFRA), to operate legally as a hospital in the country.

HeFRA, established by Act 829, 2011, is to accredit and license all public and private hospitals in the country, before they can operate legally as teaching hospitals.

The accreditation and the licence are only issued after a rigorous assessment has been conducted on the health facility by the regulatory body.

KBTH has, therefore, become the second teaching hospital, after Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, to be licensed by the HeFRA.

The licence for the KBTH is valid for three years, but the hospital has been given a six-month period to develop an action plan, to address challenges identified by HeFRA in its report.

The Board Chairman of HeFRA, Nana Otuo Acheampong, presented the certificate to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the KBTH, Dr Daniel Asare, in Accra yesterday.

He said it was encouraging KBTH, which was the foremost teaching hospital in the country, had taken steps to be accredited and acquire a licence to operate legally as a teaching hospital.

Nana Acheampong said the results of assessment conducted on the units and departments of the hospital had been positive, although there were some challenges to be addressed by the hospital.

He said overall, KBTH scored 75 per cent in the assessment conducted by HeFRA, and 12 of the departments were graded 'excellent', while 10 units scored 'very good'.

Nana Acheampong said the Neuro Surgery Department, Physio Therapy, Ophthalmology, Radio Therapy and Oncology, Cardiothoracic Department scored excellent.

He indicated that the Family Medicine, Renal, Child Health Laboratory, Eye Nose and Throat (ENT), Anaesthesia, General Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Paediatric Units scored very good.

Nana Acheampong said given the importance of health, health regulation started in the post-independence era through the promulgation of Act 9, to regulate health practice.

Consequently, the HeFRA Act was passed in 2011, which saw the establishment of HeFRA.

"You can have all the wealth and degrees, but if you don't enjoy good health, you're nothing," Nana Otuo Acheampong said.

The Board Chair entreated other hospitals to emulate the example of KBTH, and have their facilities certified and accredited.

He said the deadline given to hospitals to acquire licence before the end of March, had elapsed, and the authority would soon present the names of non-complainant facilities to the law enforcement agencies for action.

The acting Registrar of HeFRA, Mr Matthew Yaw Kyeremeh, said his outfit considered issues of personnel, equipment, infrastructure, facilities to deal with medical waste, regulatory requirements such as Ghana National Service Fire certificates and Environmental Protection Agency certificate.

Dr Asare said in spite of infrastructural and logistical challenges, staff of the KBTH, established in 1923, were doing their best to deliver better healthcare services.

He said the KBTH authorities would study the report on the hospital, and engage the government on issues raised in the document.

Dr Asare said some of the facilities at the hospital had become obsolete and needed replacement, stressing that the hospital needed a waste treatment plant to deal with waste.

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