Ken Sagoe Is Going Nowhere –Tamale Youth Declare

Dr. Ken Sagoe, CEO, TTH

“The chiefs are satisfied with his work. Religious leaders have equally praised him. Talk of infrastructural development, increase in specialists and consultants, excellent healthcare delivery and among others. It will take a dynamic and hardworking leader like Dr. Ken Sagoe to achieve all these and the era of we Northerners particularly Dagombas always wanting our own people to head government institutions or departments even when they are not qualified is over”, Spokesperson of the Concerned Youth of Tamale [CYT] has said in reaction to an earlier press statement issued by the Concerned Citizens Association of Tamale.

Speaking to Savannahnews during a build-up to a press briefing in Tamale regarding a recent statement from the CCAT about the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Spokesperson of CYT Ismael Abu minced no words in setting the records straight for Ghanaians and for that matter, citizens of Northern Ghana to know.

He recalled that, as far back as 2007 the CCAT allegedly connived with some hospital officials to oust Dr. Ken Sagoe who was Chief Executive Officer of the hospital over some disagreements. 

As if that was not enough, Mr. Abu said the same CCAT was now calling on Dr. Sagoe again to resign from his position as CEO and also on the Minister of Health to dissolve the Board of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

In their press statement, the CCAT attributed their reasons for asking Dr. Sagoe to resign his position as CEO of the hospital and the Board dissolved due to some reported cases of nurses stealing consumables and the most serious one being a recent case of stolen equipment in the neurosurgical department.

TTH

Among other things, the CCAT also demanded that a full scale investigation into the recent theft of equipment at the neurosurgical unit of the hospital as well as transferring all staff who had served more than seven years. These steps the CCAT believed would help salvage the hospital and inspire confidence among the general public.

But in a sharp rebuttal, the CYT Spokesperson described the position of the CCAT as one shrouded with ulterior motives that would not benefit the entirety of most Northerners and for that matter, residents of Tamale. 

He said if equipment were stolen in a department of the hospital, it was the head of that particular department who should be held responsible or asked to resign from his/her position and not the CEO and the Board.

Mr. Abu urged the leadership of CCAT led by Alhassan Basharu Daballi to always consult the chiefs, religious and opinion leaders of Tamale over sensitive issues bordering on institutions and personalities heading them before going public to seek redress saying, “We [CYT] have the support of the chiefs, religious and opinion leaders and for that matter no one can stop us”.

According to him, under the leadership of Dr. Sagoe, the Tamale Teaching Hospital now have over 70 medical doctors and over 20 medical consultants/specialists who were providing essential and unmatched healthcare services to the people of Northern Ghana who until recently had been denied such services over the years due to the deplorable state of the hospital.

He disclosed to this reporter that, some of the doctors had planned to park bag and baggage and leave their job for other opportunities elsewhere if Dr. Sagoe was forced to resign through the influence of any selfish group or individual and so, Dr. Sagoe was going nowhere.

Chairman, CCAT

When contacted, Mr. Daballi also described statements of the CYT as frivolous and said if there was any group that had a hidden agenda it was the CYT and not the CCAT which he was the chairman.

He emphasised that the mere fact that equipment and other things belonging to the hospital were regularly being stolen by some staff and nothing was done about it raised eyebrows and cited a purported power struggle between Dr. Sagoe and some management staff as one of the reasons why such malpractices continued to exist since 2007 when the CCAT raised concerns over a similar circumstance.  

He agreed with suggestion by the CYT that the head of the neurosurgical unit should be questioned or asked to resign in order to get to the bottom of the matter, but did not agree with the fact that the CEO should not resign and the Board dissolved.  

The Concerned Youth of Tamale during their press briefing also called on the management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital to deal ruthlessly with any staff caught stealing equipment and consumables.

Mr. Abu who addressed the press, noted that much bigger institutions such as the Komfo Anokye and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospitals had more nurses and doctors [two to three times] than the Tamale Teaching Hospital, yet the latter used more consumables than the former, a canker he said was draining the little internally generated revenue of the hospital. 

Meanwhile, a press statement issued and signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital Gabriel Nii Otu Ankrah to the media, said the issue of theft at the neurosurgical unit of the hospital was currently being handled by the Northern Regional Police Crime and Investigation Unit and the Bureau of National Investigation. 

The statement indicated that, management of the hospital had confidence in the security agencies and trust that a good job would be done and the perpetrators brought to book.