Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has emphatically indicated that the hospital is not an appendix of the Vatican.

According to Dr. David Nortey, the premier teaching hospital records theft cases as may be going on in any other institution in the country.

"Can you point out to one institution that theft is not going on; stealing is still going on at the banks", he retorted, when he was questioned on JOY NEWS as to whether or not he knew about the activities of people at the hospital, who are milking the institution dry.

The Korle-Bu CEO was responding to accusations made by former Health Minister, Algban Bagbin to the effect that some workers at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital sometimes deliberately break down the facilities at the hospital only to direct patients to rival companies established by them for the same services being sought by the patients.

"When you go round Korle-bu, you see there are some laboratory services ex-ray services, there are pharmacies and when you trace the ownership of those facilities there, they work in Korle-Bu. And so there is evidence to support that the workers there intentionally sometimes break down the equipment and machinery in the hospital in order to refer people back to their own facilities and charge for services they render", Alban Bagbin noted in an interview with JOY FM's Manasseh Azure Awuni, who exposed the rot going on at the premier hospital.

According to the former minister, the situation is a serious challenge to the institution as he further intimated that an investigation he started, while he was then Minister of Health, exposed an officer of the hospital, who later escaped and vacated his post from the hospital.

"They were still tracing him before I left the hospital", the former minister intimated.

In a reaction, Dr. Nortey, expressed surprise at the exposé on activities of "goro boys" at the hospital, which is making the hospital lose millions of cedis, accused JOY FM of what he termed "rehashing" the exposé, while there are other positive and beneficial acts of the hospital, such as saving the lives that must be highlighted.

"Incessant reports on Korle-Bu would not help the institution", the CEO bemoaned.

He further agreed that the teaching hospital is encountering challenges as competitors have sited their businesses close to the hospital and are engaging in brisk business activities.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nortey indicated that management of the hospital is making efforts at eliminating the challenges the institution is facing.

He further challenged the former minister of Health to bring out his evidence on the allegation he raised against workers of the institution, if he has incontrovertible evidence on the issue.