Akufo-Addo satisfied with progress of KATH maternity and children’s block

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the reconstruction and modernisation of the Maternity and Children’s Block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

The President made the remarks after inspecting the project on October 17, 2022, during a four-day working visit to the Ashanti Region.

Project officials informed him that the old structure had been completely demolished and that construction of the new facility was about 60 per cent complete.

The reconstruction project was revived in May 2020 after more than four decades of inactivity, following the sod-cutting ceremony performed by President Akufo-Addo.

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Earlier, in November 2019, the Ministry of Health engaged Contracta Construction UK Limited to redesign, complete and remedy defects in the unfinished maternity and children’s facility.

However, following a structural integrity assessment of the existing building, the government revised the scope of the project in November 2020 to include the complete demolition of the old structure and the construction of an entirely new state-of-the-art mother and child health facility.

The revised contract also covers the supply and installation of medical equipment, a three-year maintenance programme, procurement of medical and non-medical consumables, technical support and the training of healthcare personnel.

The new eight-storey facility will include 22 consulting rooms, three group consulting rooms, separate emergency consulting rooms for adults and children, three auditoriums, five seminar rooms and a total capacity of 506 beds.

The bed capacity will comprise 199 paediatric cots, 136 paediatric beds, 19 birthing beds and 152 adult beds.

The facility will also feature one obstetrics theatre, seven general operating theatres, pharmacies, dispensaries, laboratories and other essential support services.

Upon completion, the modern health complex will house an intensive care unit, a high dependency unit, isolation rooms, student lecture halls and catering facilities for staff, patients and students.

As part of the expanded scope of the project, the government is also reconstructing the Station Basic School classroom block at UDDARA Barracks, with the facility expected to be completed by January 2023.