The First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo has officially commissioned and handed over the newly constructed Mother and Baby Unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), in Kumasi, to the management of the hospital.
The construction of the new Mother and Baby Unit, facilitated by the Rebecca Foundation, is expected to ease the lifelong congestion and the plight women who go to the KATH for delivery, due to the delay in the completion of the old maternity block, begun about 45 years ago.
Mrs. Akufo-Adddo whose Foundation built the new Center said the condition of nursing mothers and the harrowing maternal and infant mortality statistics revealed through a documentary on the state of the Kath maternity inspired the efforts to galvanize support for a change.
She said she finds fulfillment in what has been achieved through the efforts both the media and the Ghanaian people who contributed in diverse ways towards the construction of the facility.
She noted that the process of the completion, whilst it reveals among lessons that Ghanaians are capable of solving their own challenges will go a long way to reduce the unfortunate deaths that were occurring at the old and congested block of the Hospital.
The Health Minister, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, praised the efforts put in by the First Lady and her Foundation, together with the other partners, to secure funds for the construction of the project.
He charged the KATH Board and Management to ensure the new facility, which he christened ‘the Nana Afia Kobi Serwaah Ampem II Center’ to be maintained to the benefit of the future generation as well.
To do this, he said the Ministry of Health will conduct periodic checks on the facility – every three months, so as to track the maintenance and care regime of the project.
Whilst pledging the management’s commitment to ensuring the facility is properly taken care of the Ag. Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Dr. Oheneba Owusu-Danso, noted that the completion of the new facility, the CEO said maternity, neonatal and pediatric care shall improve remarkably.
The new facility, being the first of its kind in Africa and certified as energy efficient facility per its architectural design and materials used will lead to reduction of over 50 per cent electricity usage, over 30 per cent water usage
It was also constructed in a record time of just within six months after the sod was cut for its construction. It has 20 new incubators, and about 130 delivery beds and 12 mothers can go through delivery at the same time.
The new facility also boasts of an ultra-modern feeding room. Mothers have been provided with recliner seats to make breastfeeding comfortable, healthy and in a clean and serene atmosphere.
