[ 2017-03-15 ]

The T-shaped block is to house three departments

$70m needed to complete 1974 KATH maternity building
The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) needs
$70million to complete a magnificent Maternity
block began in 1974 and believed to be key in
easing fatal congestion at the hospital.

Officials say at least four babies die every day
at Ghana's second largest hospital KATH, largely
because of severe congestion at the maternity
ward, a Joy News' Special Assignment documentary
by Seth Kwame Boateng has revealed.

A cot meant for one baby is shared by as many as
eight newborns, a father has testified after he
lost two babies when his wife delivered at the
hospital in 2013, 2014 and 2016 respectively.

There is no space for expectant mothers, stressed
doctors and under-pressure nurses. Women on labour
have no beds to lie on.

Yet in the environs of the choked maternity block
is a spacious but uncompleted option capable of
taking close to a 1,000 beds, Joy News has
learnt.

The T-shaped block is to house three departments -
Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pediatrics and a
Theatre.

Explaining its potential to ease congestion, an
architect at Architectural and Engineering
Services Limited (AESL) Kwame Poku said that the
current Maternity block has only two theatres -
only one is functional.

Yet the new building when completed will have 10
theatres. From eight congested consulting rooms,
the new block is expected to have 28 consulting
rooms, severely cutting the waiting time for
healthcare.

While the sod was cut for the construction of the
building in 1974 by the Acheampong military
regime, it is unknown when the tape will be cut to
signal the completion and opening of the block for
use.

This is down to a lack of funds to complete the
edifice. The construction work is 30% while the
equipment and mechanical engineering is 70% of the
work, consultants have explained.

AESL's Kwame Poku said 90% of the construction
work is done. "We have not done the finishing,
fitting and ceiling", he mentioned the work left
to be done.

"Majority of [the funds] will be spent on the
medical equipment," he indicated.

Expressing enthusiasm to complete the work, the
AESL consultants said at a joint session of Joy
News' AM SHOW and JOY FM's Super Morning Show
Wednesday, "we are just waiting for funds".

According to a former KATH Chief Executive Dr.
Nsiah Asare, the Health ministry headed by Dr.
Richard Anane had planned to use a $50m facility
from the Spanish government in 2004 to complete
the work.

But after a change in political leadership at the
Ministry of Health, the next Health minister Dr.
Kwaku Afriyie spread the funds across several
competing demands in the health sector.

Since then, financing for the project has largely
been through the use of budgetary allocations to
the hospital, a financing option which meant the
completion of the project would take a longer
time.

It has taken at least 13 years and some months -
from 2003 to 2017, to build five floors.

Consultants, AESL, predict that the 43-year old
project can be fitted and functional in two years
if the needed funds are made available.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

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