KATH inaugurates equipment and installations

Kumasi, Oct.3, GNA - Equipment and installations donated by the General Electric Company based in the USA were inaugurated at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), on Monday.

They included one fluoroscopy unit, one mobile x-ray unit, two laser imagers, one ultrasound unit, three incubators, three ventilators, 23 patient monitors, three radiant warmers, four Bilirubin light, 12 infusion pumps and five reverse osmosis units.

The other items were two 750 KVA Transformers with 47 distributing panel boards, a switchboard and a switchgear, V-sat dish and fibre optic cables to network and provide Internet services and other Information Communication Technology facilities at the hospital. The items costing 4 million dollars were donated under the GE Africa Product Donation Programme formed part of the 20 million-dollar humanitarian initiative to provide medical and infrastructure equipment for African countries.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Mrs Gladys Ashitey, Deputy Minister of Health, said the thrust in developing partnerships in the sector would focus on hospital strategy to develop standard for development and management.

She said equipment would be standardised in the public sector for better efficiency and maintenance as well as the application of appropriate criteria for equipment at all levels. Dr Ashitey thanked GE and said the sector would continue to collaborate with the donors as a key partner to realise the objectives of the sector.

Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, Chief Executive Officer of KATH, said the installation of the items had led to a remarkable upgrading of the hospital's equipment and improvement in the quality of service. He said the networking of the hospital activities would ensure efficient and effective coordinated operations that would enable it to introduce telemedicine to give technical support to regional, district and other outlying hospitals.

Mr Bob Corcoran, GE Vice President for Corporate Citizenship, said the company had chosen to help Ghana because of its stability, good governance and hard working people. He said the gesture would help provide quality health care and appealed to the management and staff to ensure that, the items benefited the people.