Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) doctors have suspended emergency and outpatient services indefinitely due to “unwarranted attacks” by Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini and Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh.
The Doctors’ Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH) held an emergency general assembly meeting on Wednesday, April 23, during which the decision was made. The group had just hours before issued a statement denouncing an event that occurred during the minister’s visit to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit on Tuesday, April 22.
The Association declared, “All DATTH members have proceeded on an indefinite suspension of all emergency and outpatient services (General OPD, Antenatal clinic, Specialist clinic, Paediatrics OPD).”
Inpatient care, on the other hand, will continue until patients are safely released, unaffected by the halt.
The physicians want the Health Minister and the Tamale North MP to apologise unconditionally to Dr. Valentine Akwulpwa and all of the TTH medical staff, especially those in the Accident and Emergency department.
“We will resume emergency and outpatient services once we have received the necessary apologies,” DATTH said.
The association not only demanded apologies but also gave hospital administration a list of urgent logistical and infrastructure needs. These consist of dependable water supply, steady electricity, uninterrupted oxygen supply, and prompt delivery of essential clinical supplies such as gauze, cotton, gloves, face masks, syringes, cannulae, plaster, disinfectants, and gauze.
Additionally, they are requesting that lab supplies, vital sign monitors, ventilators for different departments, transport incubators, and repairs for key hospital equipment like autoclave machines be consistently available.
Mammography and fluoroscopy units, a C-arm machine, arterial blood gas (ABG) analysers, transportable X-ray systems, a CT scan with an infusion pump, a helium-free MRI machine, and other diagnostic and critical care equipment are among the long-term enhancements that the physicians are asking for.
Citing worries about safety, the association made it clear that its members would not work in hostile circumstances. Additionally, they denounced some media outlets for portraying the recent events in a biassed and inaccurate manner, saying they would stop working with them until they offered public apologies.
According to DATTH, it is still willing to have further discussions with hospital administration, but if their issues are not promptly addressed, they will “advise themselves.”