KATH Loses Doctor Amidst Lack of Essential Heart‑Attack Facility

A tragic story out of Kumasi, where a senior doctor at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has died after suffering a heart attack because the very hospital he worked at lacked the facilities needed to save his life.

Dr. Kwame Adu Ofori, an emergency physician in his late 40s, collapsed over the weekend after experiencing a severe cardiac episode. His colleagues responded swiftly, stabilizing him and doing all they could, but KATH doesn’t have a catheterization lab, the critical facility used to treat blocked arteries during heart attacks.

Without that lab, Dr. Ofori had to be airlifted to Accra for further treatment. Despite being accompanied by a full medical team aboard a military aircraft, he died in transit.

According to hospital management, the situation highlights a longstanding gap in Ghana’s healthcare system. KATH is the second-largest teaching hospital in the country, yet it still lacks key life-saving infrastructure for cardiac emergencies.

The hospital’s Chief Executive, Dr. Paa Kwesi Baidoo, revealed that they’ve been lobbying for a cath lab for years, even appealing directly to the Bank of Ghana, but no support has come through.

In response to the doctor’s death, the Ministry of Health says it will prioritize the construction of cath labs in Kumasi, Tamale, and Accra. But for many at KATH, that promise has come too late.

Staff at the hospital are mourning one of their own, a man who spent his life saving others, but couldn’t be saved by the very system he served.