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The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Dr. Frank Owusu-Sekyere, has strongly cautioned against the theft of critical medical equipment, particularly copper pipes used to supply oxygen to patients.
He revealed that the hospital has been grappling with incidents where individuals unlawfully cut and steal these pipes, posing a severe risk to healthcare services. Speaking during an inspection of ongoing rehabilitation works at the facility, Dr. Owusu-Sekyere highlighted the financial strain such thefts impose on the hospital.
“We are more vigilant now,” he assured. “Then to add to it, we are in advance stages of procuring the services of private security to help with the dwindling numbers of our internal security, and if that comes on board, we think that we will be able to secure the place better.”
Despite efforts to curb these incidents using surveillance systems, he admitted that their effectiveness is limited. “We have had to resort to CCTV, but these are not monitored in real time, so something happens, you probably may have an idea who might have done it, but by then, the harm has been caused already,” he explained.
Dr. Owusu-Sekyere also lamented the high cost of repairing the stolen pipes compared to the meager amount thieves gain from selling them as scrap. “It is ridiculously expensive to fix these copper pipes, so somebody takes a chunk of it for scrap, and we are paying through our noses to have that one fixed. I think the one that we are doing currently is costing us about GHS400,000 for something that somebody may have sold for GHS50,” he disclosed.
With these challenges, he emphasized the need for stricter security measures to protect the hospital’s vital resources and ensure uninterrupted healthcare delivery.
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