Kwaku Agyeman Manu presenting the items to the management of the KBTH
The new Accident & Emergency Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBHT) has been commissioned.
The facility has a-65 bed capacity with 30 trolleys.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, indicated that the hospital’s old emergency of 36-bed capacity was inadequate given the population of the metropolis and this led to the conversion of the hospital’s OPD into the new emergency centre.
Mr Agyeman Manu explained that one of the problems that contributed to the congestion at the accident centre was the inability to transfer patients from the emergency centre to the other departments within 48 hours due to the poor condition of the beds.
He, therefore, disclosed that the Ministry of Health (MoH) is providing 200 beds to address the problem.
“I hope this will help alleviate the problem as the hospital moves into the expanded and well-equipped new emergency unit,” he stated.
The sector minister added that the ministry has already started work to source funding for a Trauma & Acute Pain Centre (TapC) to be constructed on a-12acre land in the hospital as a means to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“This will help prevent the possibility of overcrowding at the new emergency centre as the TapC will serve the southern sector while the Komfo Anokye teaching hospital attends to the northern sector,” he stated.
The Ag. CEO of KBTH, Samuel Asiamah, indicated that some of the facilities at the centre are a-two bed temporary intensive care unit (ICU), 10-bed high dependency unit and a theatre for minor surgical operations.
“The new emergency centre has been designed to include all adult emergencies, surgical, medical and gynae emergencies. The centre is a one-stop area for prompt emergency care with an X-ray unit, a laboratory, pharmacy and records,” he disclosed.
The Board Chairman of KBTH, Bernard Okoe Boye, also revealed that the ‘no bed’ syndrome “doesn’t necessarily mean there is no physical bed rather there is no space. Such a facility will go a long way to help with service delivery. Once we have a facility which is as twice as the existing one, we know that this will help address the problem.”
Donations
Mr Okoe Boye pointed out that President Akufo-Addo has donated 200 beds, 10 trolleys and 10 wheel chairs to the newly-commissioned emergency centre.
Three other individuals, including Komla Dodzi, a taxi driver at the KBTH, donated some brand new beds to the hospital.
By Abigail Owiredu-Boateng