Tamale, Feb. 27, GNA - The Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Dr Ken Sagoe has pledged to make the hospital a centre of excellence in medical care in the country, saying 93though we ar= e the youngest among the teaching hospitals, we shall be the best". He said the hospital would achieve this through building the capacity of its staff, improving the facilities and providing quality equipment as well as good orientation for the staff to appreciate and give good customer care to patients.

Dr Sagoe said the hospital would recruit more nurses and doctors to bring the staff strength of nurses to 980 and that of doctors, 250. The hospital currently has 110 doctors. Dr Sagoe, who was addressing the media in Tamale on Friday at a press soiree organized by the hospital to interact with the media, said the hospital was also recruiting various caliber of health professionals to achieve its target.

He said the staff strength had been growing in addition to improving infrastructure. He said the project first phase would be completed by the end of the year.

The CEO said the old structure of the hospital would also be rehabilitated by 2012 to bring the hospital to its desire status. Dr Sagoe said the hospital could only achieve its status as centre of excellence if it collaborated effectively with the media. He commended the media for their positive reportage on the hospital bu= t appealed to journalists to give positive image of the Northern Region as well.

According to him, the negative reportage on the Northern parts of the country should give way to positive coverage. He also appealed to the people, who came to the hospital, to exercise respect and avoid interfering in the activities of the hospital since it obstructed them from performing their professional mandate.