Frimpong-Boateng’s Revolution at Korle-Bu

By Albert K. Salia
SINCE Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng assumed the post of Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s premier teaching hospital in June 2002, he has always been emphatic that he is not in for any popularity contest.
He maintains he is in to serve the country and its people and would do just that. He always says he is there to contribute his part to move the hospital forward. In that vein, he is certain to step on people’s toes and does not expect that all persons would like him for his actions and policies. But he has always been quick to say that even if you do not like him, you would respect him for what he does.
Some thought they could easily win Professor Frimpong-Boateng to their side. Thus, in the yuletide of his appointment, his office was flooded with hampers to the extent that it was difficult to even get a place to walk around.
He did not budge. Those who came with the “Pull Him Down” antics to get some of their colleagues and superiors out of the way were disappointed because Prof Frimpong-Boateng believed in judging people by their deeds and not by what people said about them. He has always maintained that in criticising people, one has to be careful to kick the ball and not the “balls”.
Thus, when he set out, he sought to utilise all personnel of the hospital to the bearest minimum so that they actually would earn their salaries.
For instance, the staff of the Maintenance Department of the hospital were virtually redundant and Prof Frimpong-Boateng did not see why they should be paid while contractors performed those services at extra cost and expensive too.
When he was told that the frontage of the Central Laboratory was to be paved by a contractor for ¢300 million, he sat down with his Directors to take the decision of acquiring block and brick-making machines for the staff of the Maintenance Department to mould blocks and bricks to undertake any such venture at the hospital.
In the long run, the hospital spent a little of over ¢100 million in acquiring the block and brick moulding machines as well as paving the frontage of the hospital. Certainly, such an action would offend the contractor and possibly those expecting to get “10 per cent” kickbacks.
Doctors and other hospital staff who have complained about the leadership style of Prof Frimpong-Boateng have often conceded that it takes a man like him to bring the changes at Korle Bu within this period of time. The man believes in excellence, commitment, selflessness and dedication to duty. Anyone who wants to go along these lines would certainly find Prof Frimpong-Boateng an excellent person to work with.
For those who know Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, he cannot and will not be intimidated by anyone, especially when he knows and believes that what he is doing is right. Does he consult at all? I have heard arguments that he is dictatorial and many journalists thought he was an intimidating personality but after interactions with the man, they change their perceptions. Yes! Prof does consultations with all manner of persons on issues, especially in areas where he believes he is handicapped in terms of expertise or competence.
Within the five-year span of leading the nation’s premier hospital, Prof Frimpong-Boateng has continued with the gradual transformation of the hospital to one of excellence. Within this period, the hospital invested billions of cedis in various projects that are geared towards enhancing patient care.
The hospital invested more than ¢1.4 billion to establish a new Hearing Assessment Centre. The centre has been inaugurated and is in operation. The hospital received support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which provided the equipment valued at $100,000 for the centre. It is furnished with the latest equipment to assess hearing disabilities in humans, from infants to the aged. The centre is the only one of its kind in the West African sub-region.
Management also purchased a Laparoscopic or Keyhole surgery equipment at the cost of £70,000 in its bid to introduce new methods and skills in performing surgeries in the hospital. Until the purchase of this equipment, Ghanaians who required surgery that is performed by using this facility had to travel abroad.
The hospital spent ¢1,143,758,980 to buy new dialysis machines to replace the old ones which were on the verge of collapse. The amount also included the cost of a year’s supply of reagents and other consumables for the Department of Medicine. This amount would have been spent on buying only the reagents for the old ones. Again, the hospital acquired 10 new dialysis machines from Frezenius, a Germany Company, at no cost. It is only required to buy the reagents from the company for four years. A cost benefit analysis which was done before the agreement was signed showed that it was a very good deal for Korle Bu.
An amount of $250,000 was spent on acquiring a SPECT (Single-Photon Emission Computer Tomography) for the Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy Centre. The machine is to replace an old type whose reagents are hard to come by and also servicing is very difficult due to non-availability of machine parts on the market. With the new SPECT camera more patients can be attended to and its usage is convenient to both the patient and staff.
A new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerised Tomography (CT) scan machines were acquired for the Radiology Department of the hospital at a cost of €1.8 million with support from the government through the HIPC Fund. The new machines are able to take more detailed images of patients than the previous one and are easier to operate.
The hospital inaugurated a three-unit generator set with an output of 3750 KVA at a cost of £764,000. These generators ensure an uninterrupted power supply when the supply from the national grid goes off. The generators were acquired with support from the government.
Before the installation of the three new generators, management in 2004 bought a 500KVA-generator at the cost of ¢995,453,360. The machine is equipped with an automatic change-over switch and guarantees uninterrupted supply of power to the theatres and wards at the Maternity and Child Health blocks, as well as the Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre. The Hearing Assessment Centre and the new Administration Block are also connected to the generator.
The hospital received support from the government to buy six Gastrointestinal Endoscopes for the Endoscopy Unit at a cost of £464,000. With the inauguration of the unit, the hospital would be able to treat patients with gastrointestinal problems such as bleeding and tumours.
Korle Bu also purchased 200 new cylinders to ensure the constant supply of medical gases at the cost of ¢1.1 billion. The cylinders have already been distributed to the various wards where they are being used. The situation where staff used to be confronted with shortage of gases has now been overcome. These cylinders are handy and can be handled by one person, unlike the few old ones that required many hands to fix.
The hospital completed and furnished a new administration block at the cost of ¢8.8 billion. The building serves as a one-stop centre for nearly all the administrative departments and units in the hospital.
The old administration block has now been converted into the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Department. The Finance Department, which has been moved to the new Administration Block, has created more room for the expansion of the Surgical Medical Emergency (SME).
The old Administration Block was rehabilitated and converted into the new Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) unit for use at a cost of ¢845 million. The new unit has consulting rooms, restrooms for medical staff on duty, offices and a large waiting area for patients.
Before moving to their current location, the ENT unit shared space with the Eye Unit, which posed many difficulties such as congestion, especially on clinic days.
The hospital reconstructed the Gynae Theatre for the first time in more than 82 years, as well as the theatres at the Maternity Block. An amount of ¢5.4 billion was invested in the projects and this was released to the hospital through the personal and active involvement of President J. A. Kufuor. Work at the Gynae Theatre has been completed and inaugurated.
One project which is dear to the heart of Prof Frimpong-Boateng is the rehabilitation of the Medical Block. Work is about 70 per cent complete and is being undertaken by the hospital’s in-house labour with funding from the government. The hospital requires ¢20 billion to complete and furnish it.
To provide fitting residential accommodation for staff, the hospital has invested more than ¢2.6 billion in the construction of flats for the staff. For instance, two blocks of the SSNIT flats now accommodate 30 senior staff members of the hospital and their families. The other flat also accommodates 12 junior staff members. The building, which is the first phase of this project, is located behind the polyclinic.
Work has also begun on the construction of three blocks of flats for nurses at the Nurses Quarters.
With the help of the Department of Urban Roads and Korle Bu’s own resources, management has been able to rehabilitate and tar more than 50 per cent of its 14-km road network. This was also accompanied by the installation of streetlights at the hospital.
Management constructed a fence wall round the hospital. This is to halt the activities of encroachers and thieves. With the completion of this project, the incidence of theft has gone down considerably.
Several millions of cedis were also invested in paving the main parking lot or forecourt of the old administration block. This also included the reconstruction of the cable duct that passes through the forecourt.
The hospital adopted a uniform colour for the buildings. With this, it painted the out-patients department (OPD), Child Health, ENT Unit, Surgical Block, Allied Surgery, Central Laboratory as well as the Department of Radiology and Pharmacy.
Management completed work on the new SME ward. The new ward, which used to accommodate the Finance Department and the Human Resource Unit, was turned into a ward for the SME to lessen the burden on the main ward, which often suffered congestion which led to closure of the Unit to the public. The ward has restrooms for both patients and hospital staff on duty. The cost of renovating the place into a ward was ¢1.8 billion.
The second floor of the Department of Child Health was renovated into offices for Consultants and senior medical staff at the department. This included a conference room with Internet connectivity. The project was undertaken at the cost of ¢1.4 billion.
Management reorganised the security set-up in the hospital. This started with the construction of the four-kilometre square fence wall around the hospital. This was made possible because of the block factory that the hospital established to readily provide blocks for the various infrastructural projects in the hospital.
The Hospital Management, with the support of the Board, has also undertaken other projects that are meant to improve the working conditions of staff and other residents in the hospital.
Conscious of the key reasons for the exodus of health professionals, especially nurses from the hospital, management purchased 1000 plots of land for staff on a hire purchase basis and the beneficiaries have already paid for their plots by instalment over a period of one year.
The hospital is also exploring the possibility of finding estate developers who will arrange with owners of these plots to put up their own houses for them.
The authorities also collaborated with a Ghanaian company known as GNEISS Marketing Limited to facilitate the acquisition of cars by staff on a hire purchase basis. A good number of staff members have benefited from this scheme.
Yes! So far that is what Prof Frimpong-Boateng has been able to undertake within this five-year period. I believe if the hospital had benefited from its allocated share of government budget, things would have been far better than this. For instance, the hospital got only 35 per cent of its budget allocation in 2006. But under his prudent leadership, the hospital continued to thrive. Whoever is to take over from him must ensure that he or she continues with the forward drive. Attempting to paint everything negative would not help the person and the hospital. He or she must kick the ball and not the “balls” of Prof Frimpong-Boateng. He did his part and whoever succeeds him would be judged by what he or she would also do.