body-container-line-1

Naming New PICU After First Lady Is Our Show Of Appreciation – Korle-Bu Board Chair  

By Clement Akoloh
General News Naming New PICU After First Lady Is Our Show Of Appreciation – Korle-Bu Board Chair
MAY 16, 2019 LISTEN

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Member of Parliament for the Ledzokuku Constituency, Hon. Dr. Bernard Oko Boye has hailed Mrs Akufo-Addo and The Rebecca Foundation for the show of concern and prompt response to the hospital’s appeal to renovated the pediatric unit.

This was after the First Lady of the Republic Mrs Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo commissioned a new Pediatric and Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for the Teaching Hospital on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, to replace the old Children’s emergency ward which since its construction in the 1960s has seen no renovation despite being the recipient of out-patient attendance of thirty thousand (30,000), and six thousand (6000) admissions per annum.

Being the first of its kind at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the twenty-one (21) bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and a twenty (20) bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit constructed under the patronage of The Rebecca Foundation, has been named the Rebecca Akufo-Addo PICU.

In his address at the commissioning, the Korle Bu Board Chairman stated that the naming of the ultra-modern PICU after the First Lady was in appreciation of the many lives her benevolence would save as well as her continued love and dedication to the health needs of children and mothers.

“Mom, we appreciate your selfless dedication to the needs of children and mothers. We appreciate what you are doing for mother Ghana with your passion to save lives with your benevolence through The Rebecca Foundation,” he said.

In commissioning the facility, Mrs Akufo-Addo said the project was to hid to an appeal by the Korle Bu Child Health Department to help fix the challenging conditions facing the department, but decided to go a step further to provide a PICU when subsequent inspection revealed a situation of limited space and inadequate equipment, resulting in delays and avoidable deaths in the old edifice.

She however decried the poor maintenance culture of public institutions which she said had contributed in no small way to the current state of several infrastructures. The First lady therefore appealed to the management of the hospital to consider establishing endowment funds in order to supplement government subventions and their internally generated funds, to meet their obligations.

“I have in the past twenty nine months visited many health facilities. The story of broken down equipment, lack of spare or replacement parts, broken down infrastructure is all too pervasive. We have to change this narrative”, she lamented.

The new forty-one (41) bed PICU/NICU facility was constructed by African Building Partners with state-of-the-art building technology and fitted with the latest gadgets and equipment to ensure efficient health delivery for patients and a friendly and comfortable working environment for the health personnel.

The facility has a clinical laboratory, clinical pharmacy and office, a main reception with staff rest area, staff training and meeting rooms and changing rooms all fitted with disability-friendly toilet and bathing facilities.

Also significant is the application of green technology in its construction. The facility is equipped with solar geysers, a 48 panel photo-voltaic system with two invertors and battery storage.

Additionally, to enhance security and better monitoring of patients, integrated services such as a fire detection and alarm system, CCTV system, access control system at critical doors, nurse call systems and data points at all PICU beds, staff and nurse stations have been introduced.

body-container-line