Govt secures 240 million dollars to complete KATH Maternity Clinic

Kumasi, Feb. 27, GNA – The Government has secured a 240- million dollar loan to complete the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital's (KATH) Maternal and Child Welfare Clinic in Kumasi.

The 995- bed capacity and 10- theatre facility, which was started in 1974, had been a major headache to the hospital's successive management and the public.

Its completion would ease congestion at the maternity block and boost maternal health care at the hospital.

Mr Alban Sumanu Bagbin, the Health Minister, said government had in addition earmarked GH¢ 12 million in the 2012 budget towards the project.

He said he was confident that all things being equal, the project should be completed by the end of next year.

He was speaking to journalists after inspecting facilities at KATH as part of his familiarisation tour of health institutions in the Ashanti Region on Monday.

The Minister visited the Accident and Emergency Centre, the Maternity Ward, Paediatric Emergency Unit, the Magnetic Resonance Image Centre, the oxygen plant and some wards.

Mr Bagbin commended management and staff of the hospital, especially those at the maternity unit for the good job they were doing.

He said more funds would be secured to finish all ongoing projects at the health facility to enable it provide essential emergency services to consolidate its status as a centre of medical excellence.

He said government would also make every effort to construct a regional hospital and another teaching hospital at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to reduce pressure on KATH.

The Minister said quality health care delivery including emergency health care services was the number one priority of the government and to this end; the administration would this year distribute 161 ambulances to augment emergency services.

Additional 600 ambulances would be procured next year to enhance the operation of the National Ambulance Service.

Mr Bagbin appealed to Ghanaians to take family planning seriously and to also subscribe to the national health insurance scheme to help them access quality health care.

Professor Ohene Adjei, Chief Executive Officer of KATH, said a number of projects had been initiated to promote quality health care at the hospital and called for public and individual support to complete them on schedule.

GNA