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Pharmacists at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have threatened to withdraw their services within 72 hours over a decision by the board and management of the hospital to take over the revolving account of the pharmacy. They have also called for an immediate meeting with the board to deliberate on their concerns for an amicable settlement. The pharmacists, wearing red wrist bands, yesterday registered their displeasure (of the actions of the board and management) with a demonstration on the premises of the hospital. Memo In a memo dated June 5, 2014, and addressed to the Director of Pharmacy at KATH, Rev. Dr Albert Botchway, the acting Chief Executive Officer of KATH, acting on behalf of the board, directed the Director of Pharmacy to make available to the Director of Finance, the cheque books of all the accounts of the Pharmacy Department. The memo stated that: �The Acting Chief Executive and the Director of Finance will be the primary signatories to the accounts. You are permitted to sign cheques only in the absence of the Acting Chief Executive. By a copy of this letter, the Director of Finance is directed to take charge of the financial responsibilities of the Pharmacy Department and act accordingly.� Availability of medicines A communiqu� signed by the unit heads of the pharmacy at KATH said the revolving drug account was instituted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 1989 to ensure the availability of essential medicines in hospitals across the country. The group also stated that the MOH also made the Head of Pharmacy a mandatory signatory to the account to protect the account from depletion through the purchases of non-drug commodities. According to the unit heads, the account of the pharmacy has been �buoyant and solid,� and stated that audits into the account did not make any adverse findings against the department. Legal responsibility Making reference to the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, Act 857, the unit heads said pharmacists had the legal responsibility for the supply chain management of medicines which involved product selection, procurement, storage, distribution and the disposal of expired drugs. �The directive of the acting CEO is to take us back into an era that is unethical and leads to shortages of medicines. It is a total breach of MOH drug policy on revolving drug fund, and dents the reputation of hospitals in particular and MOH at large,� they said. The unit heads in the communiqu� also said pharmaceutical care, which was business oriented, was geared at sustaining the revolving fund as well as ensuring that medicines were available to patients at the right time and in the right quantities. Reacting to the claims made by the pharmacists, Rev. Dr Albert Botchway told the Daily Graphic that the decision to secede the financial independence of the Pharmacy Department was taken by the board and was meant to streamline the procurement processes of the hospital. According to him, the management of the hospital through an audit had made some adverse findings on the accounts of the pharmacy and stated that the management of the hospital would soon audit the accounts of the pharmacy from 2012. He further suggested that the claims made by the pharmacists were an attempt to cover up the truth and said many suppliers of drugs to the hospital had complained to management of the inability of the pharmacy to pay its bills.