There is growing unrest among staff at the Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) as many question why Miss Bernice Ofosu, the Executive Assistant to the former CEO, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, and Head of the Policy Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PPME) Unit, remains in office despite widespread concerns about her tenure.

Sources allege that Miss Ofosu, a midwife by profession, played a key role in an administration that subjected staff to dehumanizing treatment, which ultimately led to the hospital unions’ agitation against the renewal of Dr. Ampomah’s contract and his eventual exit in October 2024.

Reports suggest that under the former CEO’s leadership, directors were pressured to follow his directives, even when they were unprofessional or unethical.

Staff members were reportedly insulted and belittled during official meetings, creating a hostile work environment.

Despite growing dissatisfaction, management only recently asked Miss Ofosu to hand over her role as Executive Assistant to the acting CEO on November 11, 2024, assigning her responsibilities to a Chief Health Service Administrator.

However, this decision has not satisfied the staff, who are demanding the revocation of her appointment as Deputy Director of the PPME Unit.

It is alleged that Dr. Ampomah manipulated the recruitment process to secure Miss Ofosu’s appointment as Deputy Director of PPME by pressuring the then Human Resource Director to alter the job requirements.

Initially, the position required a Master’s degree in Monitoring & Evaluation, Economics, Development Economics, or Project Management, but the criteria were allegedly changed to include Public Health, allowing Miss Ofosu to qualify.

Additionally, sources claim that she lacked the required five years of experience in policy planning, monitoring, and evaluation, making her appointment questionable under Civil Service regulations.

Some union members further allege that she was promoted out of turn, despite lacking the skills and experience for the role.

Under Miss Ofosu’s leadership, the PPME Unit was tasked with overseeing the implementation of KBTH’s strategic plan (2020-2024), developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers Ghana.

However, staff say the plan ended in 2024 without any mid-term assessments or implementation reports to track progress.

In a major lapse, the hospital has failed to publish statutory mid-year and annual performance reports since 2021, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

Miss Ofosu’s tenure as Head of the PPME Unit has reportedly been the most expensive in the hospital’s history, with significant funds allocated to the unit without tangible results.

Staff claim that under Dr. Ampomah’s administration, a culture of silence was enforced, where department heads were ignored, victimized, or blackmailed if they spoke out.

One notable controversy involves a supposed audit of the hospital’s Health Information Management System initiated by the PPME Unit.

It is alleged that funds were almost disbursed for this audit, but finance staff discovered that no such audit had actually been conducted.

Further investigations by hospital management suggest that key departments like Finance and IT were unaware of the audit, raising suspicions of financial misconduct.

Amid these allegations, staff at Korle Bu are demanding that management revoke Miss Ofosu’s appointment and reassign her to a different role.

They are also calling for a forensic audit into her tenure to uncover any financial irregularities.