TTH to get cardiac center under MahamaCares program

Correspondence from Northern Region

The Tamale Teaching Hospital has announced that the government will be constructing an ultramodern cardiac catheterisation center under the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popularly known as Mahamacares.

Work on the construction of the facility is expected to commence later in 2026.

The Administrator of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, Obuobia Darko-Opoku disclosed this to GhanaWeb in Tamale on Thursday after meeting with management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

She said the establishment of the cardiac center at the Tamale Teaching Hospital will bring healthcare closer to the people.

Obuobia said the president was worried that people from northern Ghana had to travel all the way to Accra and Kumasi to access cardiology services, saying “the President is saying that drama is over”.

“We are excited, healthcare is coming closer to the people. Ordinarily, if you need a cath lab, you have to come all the way from Tamale to Korle Bu. You might or might not get that treatment you’re looking for. So H E the President is saying that drama is over,” she said.

She added that, under the Mahama Cares program, cardiac catheterization centers will be established “at the center of the country and when I say the center, I mean Tamale, Komfo Anokye and Greater Accra. Who else knows what else he is bringing?”

Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr Abubakari Bawah Abdulai who could not hide his happiness commended the president for choosing to put up the center in Tamale.

He said the establishment of the center will go a long way to reduce the stress patients go through to access cardiology services in Northern region as they have to travel several hundreds of kilometers to Kumasi and Accra for such services.

Dr Bawah said the establishment of the center will also save lives.

“Now the cath lab is coming so close to us and so, the expenditure that most people would have done to go to Accra or Kumasi to access this has been reduced and it’s also close to us that the emergence of it is very important because when you take cath lab, a cardiac incident or cardiac event, time is of event. So if you have the cath lab here, flying somebody here to Accra or Kumasi will waste time because time is of essence for such a patient and so having it in Tamale makes live much easier for patients in the five regions of the north,” he explained.

He said although the original plan for the project is a cardiac catheterization center (cath lab), it will be big enough to be converted into a full-time cardiac center as it is expected to be a two-storey structure, fully equipped with advanced diagnostic imaging equipment.

A cardiac catheterization center is typically a room equipped with advanced diagnostic imaging equipment, used by doctors to perform minimally invasive procedures and tests to diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases.