We’ve not misused COVID-19 funds – KATH management

Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), have dispelled accusations of misusing some COVID-19 funds.

The management of the health facility says the claims as made by one Awuni Akyeraba an accounts officer at the Hospital are utterly false.

Awuni Akyeraba, an accounts officer with the hospital said, he had petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), to investigate the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of the Hospital, alleging that funds donated to the facility to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have been misappropriated.

According to him, CHRAJ has since notified him that it has received his petition.

But in a statement, the managers asked the public to ignore the allegation, saying, “the disbursements were completely and wholly made for the intended purpose of supporting clinical care as communicated.”

It added that it is yet to receive any summons from CHRAJ, the institution that is said to have been petitioned to look into the matter.

“Management wishes to state that it is yet to be served with any document and notice of process related to the aforementioned issue, and it is, therefore, not formally privy to the circulations in the media. Management is, consequently, not in a position to speak to the specific issues raised in it”, the statement read in parts. Allegations

The petitioner alleges that the CEO and the Medical Director used funds meant to fight COVID-19 to purchase luxurious vehicles.

He says the hospital is currently in dire need of essential equipment to deliver medical care, but the management has chosen to use the funds for personal gains.

The facility, which was at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, received cash donations and other essential medical supplies from benevolent individuals and institutions, but the petitioner claims those funds were misapplied, and he wants top management of the hospital investigated.

“I am very prepared to meet them with facts and evidence. I will be very grateful if a hearing is convened as soon as possible so that we bring this to a finality. The public didn’t come to help us with money so that we go and buy cars, but to use those monies to enhance healthcare delivery,” the petitioner told Citi News.

This is however not the first management of KATH has denied such assertion.

Earlier in October, they explained in a letter explained that the allegations are false and that the originator was doing so with the sole aim of maliciously denting the hard-earned reputation of management members without basis.

They said the publication sought to portray management members of the hospital as criminals who used their positions to divert what was meant for the vulnerable for their personal gains.