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New GPHA hospital to become FIFA MRI centre to check ages of players

By ghanasoccernet.com
Sports News New GPHA hospital to become FIFA MRI centre to check ages of players
MAY 25, 2016 LISTEN

A modern hospital built by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to provide specialist medical services is expected to be operational in September this year

The $23 million facility, built by the GPHA from internally generated funds (IGF), is fully automated and will provide medical services that people hitherto had to travel outside the country for.

Some of the services to be provided include medical, surgical, paediatric and interventional cardiology services.

The Head of Medical Services at the GPHA, Dr Vitus Anaab-Bisi, who took the Daily Graphic team on a tour of the facility, disclosed that the 130-bed facility would also have a magnetic resonance technology and become a centre for the world football governing body, FIFA, to carry out tests for the age of footballers in the West African sub-region.

With age-cheating said to be a common feature in African football due to the fact that records in many countries are not easily verifiable, FIFA intends to use the magnetic resonance technology (MRI) to clamp down on age fraud in football. It will also become the second hospital in Africa to have such a technology

A delegation from FIFA has since visited the facility which has a helipad for the evacuation of patients.

Installation of equipment is underway at the facility to facilitate the commencement of commercial operations.

All services at the facility, Dr Anaab-Bisi said, would be automated to ensure operational efficiency and limit human error and fatigue.

The facility, which also comes with a mortuary with a capacity for 84 bodies that can be expanded to hold 200 bodies, would also have its laboratories accredited by international hospital-accreditation agencies.

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