KBTH devises strategies to block financial leakages
The management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has devised strategies to block all financial leakages in the hospital.
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It includes the reduction in manual financial transactions to enhance effective cost regime in the health facility.
As part of the measures, there will be intensive education of patients on the procedure for making payments in the hospital, in addition to effective communication relating to financial transactions.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the hospital, Dr Gilbert Buckle, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic on the sideline of the 2016 staff awards ceremony held last Friday by the KBTH where 24 workers who excelled in their respective duties were honoured.
“We are putting in place stringent measures to block all leakages and to ensure that we manage cost effectively, such that inefficiencies are not transferred to patients.
“The management will put up notices at vantage points on the premises of the hospital where the cost of various medical items and services will be displayed in order to ensure that no patient is short-changed,” he stated.
Initiatives
Dr Buckle added that programmes had been initiated to build the capacity of all accounting staff on prudent financial management systems.
According to him, the KBTH was also focused on fostering collaboration among the various departments in the facility to prevent the situation where departments operated as distinct entities.
“KBTH is a mixture of a medical school and a Ministry of Health (MoH) facility, which is the reason why efforts ought to be made to foster collaboration to ensure that the departments work as a unit.
“We should be able to get to that level where the departments will be able to jointly discuss a patient and find a holistic solution to an issue rather than operating at separate levels,” he added.
The CEO further indicated that the advancement towards a multi-disciplinary approach was meant to strengthen management systems, improve leadership and capacity development to ensure comprehensive health delivery.
Goals
Dr Buckle said the KBTH had, as part of its projections for this year, set out to achieve an ambitious goal of addressing the needs of the staff of the hospital in order to ensure that they stayed motivated to render dedicated services to improve health care.
One key challenge he noted as having derailed the smooth operation of the KBTH over the years had to do with the shortage of medical consumables.
He, however, said the hospital had now put in place prudent measures to improve its inventory to limit the amount of shortages and stock outs.
Awards
Touching on the annual awards ceremony, he observed that the initiative was meant to reward hardworking staff who had been able to deliver in the midst of daunting challenges.
The awardees, drawn from all the departments of the hospital, were presented with plaques, certificates and cash awards.
Dr Buckle advised the staff to take time off their busy schedules to relax and release stress.