Two major health facilities in the Ashanti region, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Kumasi South Hospital, are heightening calls for their urgent retooling to facilitate quality healthcare delivery.
Health officers grapple with obsolete and inadequate medical equipment negatively impacting service delivery to the hundreds of patients that throng the facilities.
During a tour to these facilities, the Administrator of Ghana Medical Trust Fund reiterated the government’s efforts to complete stalled hospital projects in the region and equipping health facilities with adequate medical tools.
The Ghana Medical Trust Fund has begun a nationwide initiative to provide essential medical equipment to hospitals in Ghana with its latest visit to the Ashanti region.
Administrator of the Fund, Obuobia Darko-Opoku, paid a working visit to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Kumasi South Hospital.
It is part of a nationwide assessment tour aimed at soliciting the concerns of health professionals and identifying pressing equipment deficits.
The Medical Director of KATH, Dr Kwadwo Sarbeng noted that despite handling referrals from other regions, the facility is severely under-equipped.
“Our biggest challenge is the lack of essential equipment. We are still relying on a single MRI machine installed in 2012, and we have not had a functioning mammogram since 2007,” he said.
The hospital, with over 1,100 doctors and house officers and more than 2,500 nurses, also faces difficulties with outdated radiology machines and other critical diagnostic tools.
At Kumasi South Hospital, the administrator was briefed on similar challenges, particularly the lack of space and equipment for effective healthcare delivery.
Medical Doctor of Kumasi South Hospital, Dr. Bashiru Abdul Majeed, appealed for the completion of the long-abandoned Sewua Regional Hospital project, situated a few kilometers away from the hospital.
“As a regional hospital that started as a health center, we are overwhelmed. The unfinished Sewua Hospital could ease our burden, but it has been left to deteriorate. We plead with the government to complete it so we can provide better services for the nation,” he noted.
Mrs. Obuobia assured both hospitals of the Trust Fund’s commitment to addressing these concerns, emphasizing that the Fund is not only focused on providing equipment but also supporting patients’ bills, training healthcare professionals, and promoting research.
“There is an urgent need to replace outdated machines and ensure our hospitals are equipped to serve the people,” she said. “Corporate Ghana and the government must come together to provide the help these hospitals desperately need.”
She added that the completion of the Sewua Hospital remains a priority, as it will ease congestion and ensure that facilities in the Ashanti Region function at full capacity.
Source: Josephine Sagoe
