KATH Maternity and Children’s Block, critical to saving lives - President

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has performed a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the reactivation of works on the 44-year-old abandoned Maternity and Children’s Block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

The project, being executed by Messrs. Contracta Construction (UK) Company Limited, is to be completed in three years.

It is expected to help ease pressure on the existing structures constructed in 1954, and comes with facilities, including an emergency reception for children and pregnant women, 10 theatres, intensive care unit, and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) unit.

The rest are breastfeeding centre, paediatric surgery unit, pharmacy, dedicated medical oxygen plant, lecture halls, cafeteria, and other specialist facilities.

President Nana Akufo-Addo indicated that upon completion, the 800-bed facility would contribute significantly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on maternal and child health.

The government, he said, had stepped up efforts to provide the requisite infrastructure to create access for quality healthcare delivery, saying, the recent COVID-19 disease had exposed the inadequacy in health facilities in the country.

“Our investment in the healthcare system is to serve the needs of 21st Century Ghana,” the President noted and assured the Management of KATH of working assiduously to expand the facility’s land resources for future projects.

Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Minister of Health, hinted that work on the Bekwai and Tepa Hospitals were due to be completed this year.

He was hopeful that the development would complement healthcare delivery, especially at the district level, urging the contractors to work diligently to complete those projects as scheduled.

Dr. Oheneba Danso, Chief Executive Officer of KATH, lamented the hardships pregnant women went through in their bid to seek healthcare due to the lack of adequate facilities.

“Pregnant women continue to queue to have critical maternal surgeries, while two to six babies are kept together in one baby’s cot due to the lack of space at the Hospital,” he stated.