The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) says it will no longer attend to urgent cases due to a spike in COVID-19 infection among its staff.
The Deputy Director of Medical Affairs at KBTH in a letter said a majority of the staff at the surgical areas are currently self-isolating.
Read the full statement below:
SUBJECT: SUSPENSION OF NON-EMERGENCY SURGICAL CASES
The Hospital Administration has decided to suspend non-emergency surgical cases for the next two weeks. This is necessitated by the fact that some staff have been infected with Covid-19.
This measure is therefore to protect our clients and the rest of the staff who are still at post and providing care to patients. The suspension will also enable us to reorganize ourselves for the resumption of regular services.
Only dire emergencies will be attended to within this period. We, therefore, request sister health facilities to refer only dire surgical emergencies (Surgery, ENT, Maxillofacial and Obstetrics) to Korle Bu during the suspension period. Other parts of the Hospital are still in full operation. Thank you.
A section of the memo indicated that the suspension will be in force for two weeks.
Read this; “There has been a recent surge of COVID-19 infections among staff working in the Surgical areas. This has necessitated self-isolation of majority of these staff. Hence a decision has been taken to suspend all urgent cases for two (2) weeks. All emergency cases will continue as before,”
Meanwhile, the Head of Public Affairs at the facility, Mustapha Salifu in a statement says the suspension of urgent services will afford the hospital the chance to reorganize itself “for the resumption of regular services.”
He added in his statement that the hospital will for the next two weeks attend to “only dire emergencies.”
“We, therefore, request sister health facilities to refer only dire surgical emergencies (Surgery, ENT, Maxillofacial and Obstetrics) to Korle Bu during the suspension period. Other parts of the Hospital are still in full operation,” he noted in his statement.
