Stephen Coret of Africa Building Partners and Prof Baafuor Opoku explaining a point to some journalists during the media tour
About 95 percent of work has been done on the ultra-modern Mother & Baby Unit (MBU) Centre currently under construction at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
Barring any last minute hitch, the facility which boasts of several modern equipment, will be opened for public use next month, Stephen Coret, an engineer of Africa Building Partners (ABP), contractors building the facility, said.
The KATH MBU is being built following the intervention of the Rebecca Foundation, chaired by First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, in conjunction with The Multimedia Group.
KATH was experiencing preventable mother and baby deaths which were attributed to lack of modern facilities and space at the health facility, so the first lady and Multimedia solicited for funds from the public to build the new MBU.
During a media tour of the facility yesterday, Mr Coret assured that the project would be completed within the five-month stipulated period that the contractors promised, adding that works had gone on smoothly so far.
According to him, the new facility would boast of modern amenities which are comparable to any MBU facility in the world, therefore, medical personnel and patients who would access the facility would feel at home.
Mr Coret disclosed that the new MBU, when completed, would house maternity, neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, which would be furnished with standard medical apparatuses such as nurses’ room, isolation room, washing basins, electronic beds, data connection, toilets, resuscitation area, lobby area and consulting rooms to boost healthcare delivery at KATH.
Also in the facility include 15 incubators, 130 babies’ cots, nine birthing beds, three operating theatres, two infant ventilators, a maternity ward, five incubators and the facility can access solar and regular power supply, among others.
He said the pediatric intensive care unit was initially not part of the project, but after consultations, stakeholders agreed that it should be included so that the new facility can properly take care of mothers and their babies.
Prof Baafuor Opoku, head of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at KATH, who was part of the inspection team, stated that the new facility would go a long way to help prevent the mother and baby deaths at KATH when completed.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi