KATH theatres in full operation despite strike by CRA

Kumasi, Jan. 04, GNA – Authorities at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest health referral facility, have said theatres at the facility “are operating normally”.

“We are working. We are doing emergencies. We are operating normally. All our cases in the main theatre are almost done.

We are working more efficiently than before,” Professor Akwasi Antwi Kusi, Head of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Directorate, KATH, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), in Kumasi, on Tuesday.

The assurance is coming in the wake of the recent nationwide industrial action by the Certified Registered Anaesthetists (CRA).

The nurse anaesthetists on Saturday, January 1, 2022, laid down their tools in protest of the expiration of their license.

According to the CRA, “members cannot provide anaesthesia services across the country, because members do not hold license to practice.

“CRA is unable to provide anaesthesia services until a determination is made by the Ministry of Health (MoH),” a statement issued by the nurse anaesthetists noted.

Per the regulations, members are expected to renew their licenses each year with the Medical and Dental Council, which makes them eligible to practice.

Prof. Antwi Kusi said, “nothing has changed at the KATH.”

This is because the doctor anaesthetists had been providing anaesthesia services as usual.

According to him, cases at the main theatre as well as the Accident and Emergency and Obstetrics, which all fall under his Directorate, had been dealt with.

Source: Ghana News Agency