MTN hands over GHS5.5m maternity block to Tema General Hospital

MTN Ghana Foundation has visited the Maternity Block of the Tema General Hospital, a project, built and donated by the foundation to the health facility.

The visit enabled MTN Executives to interact with the Medical Team of the Block and tour the facility to get firsthand information about how helpful the facility has been to its maternal service delivery.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the visit on Wednesday, the Corporate Services Executive, MTN Ghana, Mr. Samuel Koranteng said, “A year ago, we handed this project over to the hospital; it’s been twelve months now, and we are here as MTN Ghana Foundation because sustainability is one of the key things we look at in all the projects we do.”

“They have taken us through the wards and various facilities and shown us the equipment they have, and I must say we would give the hospital administration and those who maintain the Unit a big kudos because they have maintained it very well, and with the figures they have given us, we have realized that this Unit has really impacted deliveries for the hospital,” Mr. Koranteng said.

Mr. Koranteng informed that with what they saw and the testimonies they heard, the 5.8 million Ghana Cedis MTN invested in the project had not been in vain, and that the impact of the facility in the lives of mothers and babies so far had exceeded the target of MTN.

Reacting to the issue of maintenance of public facilities, Mr. Koranteng indicated that MTN Ghana Foundation went into a maintenance conversation with the administration of the hospital before the project was started.

“What we have done this time is that the hospital, together with MTN Ghana Foundation, has representatives on the maintenance committee of the facility,” he informed.

He informed that the committee was responsible not just for the maintenance of the building but the equipment, etc., and had put in place a monthly maintenance schedule as well as a maintenance report to make sure the facility survived.

Mr. Koranteng responded to pleas by the medical staff to consider assisting in other pressing needs of the Unit by saying, “If there is anything else we can do to improve the quality of care in this facility we are prepared to listen and assist in that regard.”

The Principal Nursing Officer and Unit Head, Labour Ward of the Maternity Block, Madam Joana Boakye, observed that “the MTN Block has gone a long way to improve upon the services we render to our clients, most especially in reducing maternal and neonatal mortalities.”

Madam Boakye said the bed capacity in the old structure was low and the equipment were not up to standard, “And so you could have a lot of women seated on benches waiting for their turn to be seen, even though some of them may be in emergences situations, yet we can’t help it because, of course, there is no bed to put you on and so you will be in a chair till whatever happens.”

She said now the MTN Block had enough beds and the structure was equipped with emergency obstetric emergency equipment such as the Scan, the CTG, and Suction machines and other important items.

“And so when they come in, the care is very fast. Even when you come in early labor, you will still get a place to lie down till such a time that the labor would pick up,” she informed. Madam Boakye said of much importance was the monitoring equipment which helped them to detect early complications so they could intervene and save their lives. She indicated that due to the gesture of MTN, mortality rate at the Unit dropped from 20 cases last year to eight in 2019, with the eight being mostly referral cases from other facilities.