Crises loom at KATH Orthopedic Department as important tool breaks down

A broken down Battery Drill at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has been posing enormous challenges to orthopedic surgeons at the hospital’s theatre for months, Adom News has learnt.

Battery Drill is important equipment used in bone operations and its absence is dangerous for patients who may visit the hospital.

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Sources say doctors have had to rotate temporal alternatives for months after the original ones broke down about some four months ago.

The situation is piling undue pressure on surgical teams and their patients who often tend to delay sessions or postpone them because the power drill is unavailable at the time they need it.

Head of Trauma and Orthopedics Directorate, Vincent Attivor told Adom News that surgical teams who have to wait hours after their scheduled times before they could start surgery.

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The situation, he says, has often made doctors frustrated even before they start operating.

According to him, the situation is adversely affecting their work and has brought difficulties to both patients and surgical teams.

For the Trauma and Orthopedic Directorate to function effectively, the hospital needs five Aculan 3Ti power drills and 1 aculan 3Ti power saw.

Adom News understands the problem facing management in acquiring these tools is financial difficulties.

A durable and efficient power drill costs €61,300 and KATH lacks the financial muscle to buy that for the Orthopaedic Directorate to undertake implant and hardware surgery.

Though Management claims it is making efforts to get them the drills, Dr. Attivor is hoping that benevolent organizations will come to their aid.