Donate to help build a new maternity ward -KATH Director

Mr. George Tetteh, Director of Administration, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), has appealed to Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, especially those in the Ashanti Region, to join hands with the First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, to raise funds to support the construction of a new maternity ward for the hospital.

The KATH Director of Administration said the First Lady; with support from wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Samira Bawumia, and the Multi Media Group, will, on Sunday, May 28, 2017, organise a fund raising programme to construct an emergency maternity ward for the hospital.

“I want to appeal to all Ghanaians, especially our brothers and sisters in the Ashanti Region, to support the appeal for funds, which the First Lady, Second Lady and Multi Media Group are going to raise this Sunday.

“The funds would be used to construct an emergency building for the Mother & Children's block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, which will benefit all of us Ghanaians.” he explained.

Mr. Tetteh made the appeal in an interview with the paper at his office in Kumasi last Friday.

According to him, the yet-to-be constructed facility, which is estimated to cost GH¢10 million, is expected to be completed in three to four months, to accommodate over 200 pregnant women and babies.

He explained that even though the First Lady and her team have already organised a fundraising in Accra towards the same cause, he was calling on all and sundry to donate their widow's mite to help bring the project into fruition, for the betterment of all mothers and children in and around Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region.

Explaining further, he noted that the Komfo Anokye Hospital gets referrals from eight out of the 10 regions of the country, and, therefore, there was the need for everybody to support the project, because even if they don't benefit directly, their families, friends or relations may.

“Our families and friends, among other,s travel through Kumasi to the three northern regions and other parts of the country, and if anything happens to them, they may need the facility to give them proper health care,” he noted.

He continued that, after its completion, some of the things that pose as challenges for the hospital, such as the wellbeing of patients at the Maternity and the Children's wards, can be addressed substantially.

The KATH Director of Administration pointed out that there was a huge uncompleted building meant to serve as the Maternity and the Children's wards, but it has been abandoned for several years now.

He posited that even though the President has pledged to complete it in the next two to three years, “it appears we can't wait for that long, hence the need to consider this emergency structure to support our operations.”

Mr. Tetteh observed that when completed, the hospital would have enough space to accommodate the huge volumes of referrals it receives on a daily basis, adding that the doctors may be able to get enough time to work on the referrals.

“It is against this backdrop that I am appealing to corporate institutions, churches, our brothers and sisters at Magazine, contractors, businessmen and women, that even those who donated in Accra, should come and help us raise the needed funds to undertake the project once and for all.

“If it is possible, we should be able to raise more money here in Kumasi than we did in Accra to help the construction of the project,” he hoped.

Benefits of the Project
When completed, the facility will have enough space to take care of more pregnant women and their babies, because, currently, KATH's maternity ward has only two delivery beds, which means that if more than two women are due for delivery, they can attend to only two, which is not good enough.

Mr. Tetteh said the new facility will give them six beds at the last stage, which means there will be space for them, and “also the contractor has assured us that they will make available 15 chairs, which can be folded, so even if the six beds get full, we can rely on the 15 folding chairs.

“Again, the new facility would have three theaters, instead of the two we have now, with a lot of equipment, which will go a long way to help ease the pressure and tension we go through,” he noted.

Continuing, he said: “We get about 30 deliveries daily. I, however, believe that once the facility is ready, the numbers will go up, but I can assure you that our staff are ready for the task ahead.

“If you look at Kumasi, Central and Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East, Upper West regions and Burkina Faso, there is no teaching hospital in any of these places. The teaching hospital at Tamale, however, does not have a referral facility, as we have.”

Mr. Tetteh revealed that the hospital has trained its doctors and nurses to be able to handle the expected increase in work load, which would come with the completion of the new facility.

He hinted that once completed, KATH will train doctors and nurses from other hospitals, so that when they receive such cases at their respective hospitals, they can take care of the patients before referring them to KATH.

“We are, therefore, appealing to everybody; I mean every Ghanaian living in Ghana, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (US), Europe, Canada, Japan, you name them, to come and assist us put up this facility for our own pregnant women and babies.

“They can donate into the accounts Multi Media has provided for the benefit of society, and God will bless you,” he posited.

1,100 people access the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital daily, and over 1,000 people visit the Out Patients Department (OPD) every day.

From Richard Kofi Attenkah