News
KATH Psychiatric unit cries for space
Inadequate space at the Psychiatric unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is having a negative effect on quality healthcare.
The unit has been seeing about 15,000 patients, every year, but has space for only 11 beds, something that is hampering quality care delivery.
Doctors and nurses are sometimes forced to sit in the corridors to provide services.
This, according to the Head of the Psychiatric unit, Dr Ruth Owusu-Antwi, “is too bad for patient-doctor confidentiality”.
The unit, established in 1981, has not seen any expansion over the years, and the continued increase in admissions and Out-Patients Department (OPD) cases are putting intense pressure on it.
Doctors, she said, were often compelled to discharge patients earlier than they should – before their full recovery.
In a chat with this Paper, Dr Owusu-Antwi indicated that prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus and subsequent imposition of the lockdown, daily reported cases were between 12 and 15, but this has shot up to about 20 and 25 cases.
Making a passionate appeal to individuals and organisations to support the facility to complete an expansion project it had started, Dr Owusu-Antwi noted the unit had been recording more mental cases after the lifting of the partial lockdown in the greater Kumasi and other parts of Ghana.
Follow up cases had also increased to about 120 from the pre-lockdown figures which ranged between 80 and 100 cases.
She made reference to a recent study conducted at the Accra, Pantang and KATH Psychiatry, which showed that the latter “has the highest relapse rate” and said this was attributable to the situation where patients were made to go home when they were not fully recovered, and said “we need an expansion for quality health delivery”.
Dr Owusu-Antwi gave some causes of psychiatric problems as post-partum (depression that occurs after childbirth), psychosis, depression, anxiety disorder and substance dependency disorders.
She stressed the determination of the unit to continue to provide quality professional psychiatric services to improve the mental health of the people despite the constraints and called for more clinical psychologists to be employed by the government to assist in handling the rising cases of mental illness.
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi
A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Bekwai Circuit Court for his role in a 2022 robbery at a mining site at Manso Akwasiso in the Ashanti South Region.
The convict, Dominic Ofori, also known as Fanta, was arrested on 16th February 2026 after years on the run. He pleaded guilty before the Bekwai Circuit Court to robbery contrary to Section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29, and was accordingly sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labour.
On March 20, 2022, the Manso Adubia District Police received intelligence that a group of armed men from Manso Abodom were planning to attack a mining site at Manso Akwasiso to rob the owner of gold concentrate. Acting on the information, police mounted a coordinated operation and laid an ambush at the site.
At about 5:30 pm the same day, four-armed men arrived at the site, fired indiscriminately, and robbed the miners of their gold concentrate. The police team on surveillance intervened, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.
Three of the suspects, Abu Abubakar, Musah Latif, and Gideon Takyi, sustained gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead on arrival at St Martins Catholic Hospital at Agroyesum. Dominic Ofori escaped at the time but was later arrested and put before the court.
The Ashanti South Regional Police Command has assured the public of its continued commitment to combating violent crimes and bringing offenders to justice.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested 45-year-old Isaac Boafo, also known as “Duabo King,” for allegedly publishing false news intended to cause fear and panic.
Police said the arrest follows a viral TikTok video in which Boafo claimed that four officers at the Central Police Station in Kumasi engaged in inappropriate conduct with commercial sex workers during night patrols in Asafo.
Officers from the Police Intelligence Directorate (Ashanti Region) apprehended Boafo after receiving intelligence about the video.
During questioning, he admitted to creating the video to attract views and engagement online, and acknowledged that he could not prove the allegations.
Boafo also admitted making comments about the President of the Republic for content purposes and could not defend those statements.
He has been formally charged and is in detention as investigations continue.
The Ashanti Regional Police have warned the public against publishing or sharing false information on social media, noting that such acts can cause fear, panic, and damage reputations.
They said anyone found engaging in similar conduct will face legal action.
By: Jacob Aggrey
