By Muniratu Akweley Issah, GNA
Accra, June 19, GNA – Establishing and investing in children’s hospitals is necessary as it would help pay special attention to their health needs, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, Minister of Health has said.
He said children continue to fight for space and healthcare as more attention was paid to adults, adding that children’s hospitals would help to serve children better, to have a functional paediatric children’s hospital to save the lives of many children.
The Minister made these remarks when he paid a working visit to the Weija Municipal Children’s Hospital, which is currently under construction.
The 120-bed capacity ultra-modern hospital is expected to be completed in the next four months and would cater for the health needs of children in the community and its environs, at the cost of US$ 8.8 million.
The hospital when completed would have an outpatient department (OPD), emergency centre, surgical wards, laboratory, CT scan and X Ray, consulting rooms, neonatal intensive care units and a mothers’ hostel.
Other facilities would include administration suit, conference room, laundry and other supporting services.
The Minister noted that despite the growing population of Accra, it has only one children’s hospital- the Princess Marie Louise Hospital- which is currently dilapidated and serving the entire population of Accra.
Hence, the Weija Municipal Children’s hospital would serve a good purpose and ease congestion.
“I am happy that the government has made this facility a reality, one advantage of having a specialist hospital is that because it’s been designed for a particular purpose, for children, it is able to attract specialists in that area,” he stated.
Dr. Boye said the facility would have beds for children, VIP beds, common rooms.
“I am also excited that it has about three theatres, two big theatres, and one micro theatre connected to emergency,” the Minister said, adding, “immediately a children’s hospital has a theatre, it will attract paediatric surgeons, and more corrective surgeries can be done for children, and on time.”
He said cconsidering the speed with which the contractor was working, he was optimistic that the government would operationalise and have this facility to benefit the people in the Greater Accra Region.
Dr. Boye promised to ensure a needs assessment for refurbishment and an upgrade of the Princess Marie Louise Children’s hospital to be able to serve more children better.
Mr Abraham Fiscian, Project Manager and Structural Engineer, said the project which is being funded by the World Bank was 65 per cent complete including all structural engineering works.
GNA