KATH explains why abandoned maternity block will be demolished

The state is to pull down the four-decade-old uncompleted maternity and children’s block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) officials have announced.

This, according to government officials is to allow for the reconstruction of an entirely new ultramodern edifice at the nation’s second referral centre.

Speaking on the Happy Morning show (HMS) with Samuel Eshun, Kwame Frimpong head of public affairs at KATH said: “the facility which is located in the Ashanti Regional capital has failed to meet its structural integrity test after an assessment by the construction firm tasked to ensure its completion.”

He also added that the hospital has lost control of said block yet to be demolished.

President Akufo-Addo in May 2020 cut the sod for the construction of the project and gave a completion deadline of 36-months.

The construction and completion of the project will be funded by the Deutsche Bank in Germany at a cost of €155 million.

About the project

The project began in 1976, as part of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Expansion Project, but came to a standstill in 1979.

Once completed, the Maternity and Children’s Block will be a state-of-the-art, modern health edifice, with paediatrics, gynaecology, and obstetrics units.

It will serve as a referral centre for 12 of the 16 regions of Ghana.

It will be a 750-bed building, with outpatient areas for adults and children, and it will have 10 operating theatres and diagnostic rooms, fully equipped with X-Ray, ultrasound, and mammography facilities.

The facility will also house an intensive care unit, a high dependency unit, isolation rooms, and student lecture halls, with the capacity to provide catering services for staff, patients, and students.