By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah
Kumasi Sept. 5, GNA – The management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has described as false claims that the suspected fake doctor who was arrested at the hospital on Monday attended to some patients at the facility.
The suspect, who had a name “Dr Williams Cyril Cohen” written on the scrub dress he was wearing, was accosted on the walkway behind the Accident and Emergency Centre (A&E), after his responses to questions about his identity and purpose at the hospital proved unsatisfactory.
A statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of KATH, Mr Kwame Frimpong, said the suspect was not found in any of the service points at the hospital.
“The suspect was not found in any of the service points at the hospital but accosted at an open space and could therefore, not be said to have attended to patients as being circulated,” the statement explained.
Providing further details on the incident, the statement said one of the Directors at the facility was on her usual rounds when she met the suspect with a backpack and a stethoscope on a walkway behind the hospital’s A&E centre.
The suspect also had the name ‘Dr Williams Cyril Cohen’ written on the scrub dress he was wearing.
It said when the Director questioned him about his identity and where he worked, his responses was that he was only passing through the hospital to give something to somebody and quickly started to move away.
The Director, according to the statement became suspicious, raised an alarm and the suspect who was by then sprinting away was chased, arrested and handed over to the police.
The statement said the hospital had a team-based system that oversees both in-patient care and OPD services and that once one was not a member of these closely-knit teams, one could not assess or attend to patients at the various designated service points at the hospital.
“Again, the hospital has for some time now, computerized its clinical operations and all patient care services are done through its Electronic Medical Records System (EMRS), accessible to only accredited members of staff using their unique passwords,” it stressed.
The statement gave assurance that no assessment, diagnoses, reviews and prescriptions could be done for patients by a non-member of staff and therefore, the claim that the suspect had attended to, and administered medications to patients before he was arrested was false.
It further cautioned members of the public against dealing with anybody outside the accredited service points at the hospital.
“If anybody approaches you at undesignated places like the corridor, car parks, walkways and other open spaces, with the intention of helping you to access healthcare, please ignore and report that person to the nearest security guard at the hospital,” the statement added.
GNA