Tamale Teaching Hospital gets new children’s theatre and CT Scan

The Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has opened a new ultramodern children’s theatre to offer specialist surgical operations for children.

The new Paediatric theatre is expected to double the number of surgeries among children at the TTH.

In 2022, the hospital conducted 328 surgeries among children alone in its shared surgical theatres.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of the TTH, Dr Atiku Adam, told journalists the number could have been more if the hospital had a dedicated theatre for children.

“There were times that we had to queue cases for surgeries because we shared the theatres, now, with a dedicated theatre, we can always conduct paediatric surgeries without any issues,” he told the media after the commissioning of the facility in Tamale on Saturday, June 3.

He added that “Last year, we conducted 328 Paediatric surgeries. Now, with the new Paediatric theatre, we can double the number.”

Dr Atiku said the hospital was also refurbishing parts of the TTH clinic to convert it into a paediatric ward.

This he noted was part of efforts to improve child health care at the hospital which serves as a major referral centre for all other hospitals in the five regions of the North.

The paediatric theatre was put together by the international child cleft foundation, Smile Train and KidsOR. The theatre is equipped with ultramodern facilities which are specially customized for children.

Senior Programmes Manager of Smile Train, Victoria Awazie said it was the hope of the foundation that more children with cleft cases and other medical conditions will be operated on and subsequently receive the best of health care.

She said her organization was fully assured that child mortality will be drastically reduced in the hospital.

New CT Scan

Meanwhile, the hospital has also inaugurated an additional CT Scan machine to complement the existing one which has frequently been breaking down due to what management says has been pressure on it.

The frequent breaking down of the old machine over the years compelled patients of the hospital needing its service to travel as far as Techiman in the Bono East Region for CT Scan service.

The new CT scan, acquired for the hospital by the Ministry of Health has been installed at the Accidents and Emergency Center to offer emergency services to patients while the old one would now be used for regular services.

Speaking at the inauguration of the two facilities, the Mayor of Tamale, Sule Salifu said the government was investing heavily in the health sector as part of efforts to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in the country.

According to him, it was the conviction of the government that investment in health equipment and technology was the best way to help improve health services, especially in Northern Ghana.

Mr. Salifu said it was for this reason that the government was constructing the Psychiatric Hospital at Tugu Yepalsi in the Tamale Metropolis as part of the Agenda 111 Project of the government.

He said work on the construction of the mental health facility was steadily progressing.