Medical doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi have announced an indefinite withdrawal of services in protest against the Minister of Health’s directive to suspend the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo.
According to the doctors, the minister’s action, directing the hospital’s Board to suspend the CEO, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo, for two weeks, was unjustified and detrimental to efforts aimed at safeguarding patient care.
The doctors decided at an emergency meeting on Friday, June 5, 2026, following the suspension of the CEO.
Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo’s suspension letter from the minister, dated June 5, 2026, and addressed to the Board Chairman of KATH, did not indicate whether the two-week suspension was without pay.
The Head of Public Affairs at KATH, Kwame Frimpong, is also to be investigated by the board per the minister’s directive, for granting a media interview to explain KATH management’s decision on emergency admissions.
The decision by the Minister of Health followed the CEO’s directive to suspend the admission of emergency cases at KATH on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
In a letter to the board directing the suspension, the minister indicated the directive was “Pursuant to section 36 (1) of the Ghana Health Service and Teaching Hospitals Act, 1996 (Act 526).”
Last Wednesday’s decision by the KATH management to temporarily suspend admission of new cases came in the wake of an overcrowded Accident and Emergency (A&E) Centre, which has been struggling with severe congestion due to increasing referrals.
In a notice addressed to the Chairman of the KATH Board, the Komfo Anokye branch of the Ghana Medical Association said members had extensively reviewed recent developments at the hospital and expressed deep concern that measures introduced by management to ensure patient safety had instead resulted in disciplinary action against the CEO.