A front view of the completed Tamale Teaching Hospital Phase II project.
The completed second phase of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) project has been inaugurated by the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.
The hospital’s bed capacity has been increased from 400beds to 800beds with the completion of the poject executed by Messrs VAMED Engineering at a cost of €39 million.
The project included civil works construction, medical equipment installation, maintenance training.
The redevelopment of the TTH commenced in 2010 under the late president Atta Mills/president John Mahama administration.
The first phase of the project cost the Government of Ghana €39 million and was completed in 2013.The project was handled by Messrs SIMED from the Netherlands as an EPC contract and executed on a turnkey basis.
The phase 1 increased the number of beds from 150 to 400, rehabilitation of administration blockcomplex, medical gas plant, diagnostic building, theater, laundry, rehabilitation of OPD complex and other ancillary building, construction of new water supply system, construction of dedicated power station, training and medical equipment post warranty maintenance for three years.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu said government is committed to improve healthcare nationwide and also in conformity with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He indicated that government will continue to provide functional health facilities for its citizenry but was quick to add that managers of health facilities have a sacred duty to ensure that the facilities are used and maintained properly.
According to him, the biggest challenge facing the Ministry is the maintenance of the hospital saying “It can be confidently reported that most of the phase 1 facilities require renovation even though the buildings and systems are not up to 5 years old.
The medical gas system constructed in phase 1 completely broke down necessitating the ministry to build a new medical gas plant as part of the phase II.”
The minister however noted that committing additional resources into TTH will depend on how the current stock of facilities are managed and appealed to management to help government by taking care of the facility so that government can help by providing more resources and additional facilities.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the TTH, Dr. David Kolbilla promised the ministry of health that they will put the facilities to judicious use in order to improve health outcomes of the people within the catchment area.
Dr. Kolbilla stated that for the TTH to achieve the goal of becoming a holistic referral center comparable to other tertiary facilities in Ghana and in the sub-region.
He appealed to government to establish a radio-oncology center for the comprehensive management of cancer cases in the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
‘It is our hope at phase II of the expansion works will be carried out to provide for Paediatic, Psychiatry and others’.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale