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President Kufuor inaugurates high tech Accident and
Emergency Centre
Kumasi, Nov. 8, GNA – President John Agyekum Kufuor has
inaugurated a state-of-the-art National Accident and
Emergency Centre at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
(KATH) in Kumasi, to serve as the nation’s main referral
facility for accidents management.
The Centre with a helipad on the roof, has four other
components including a modern pathology with laboratories, a
280-individual-cubicle mortuary, comprehensive expansion and
refurbishment of the Specialist Out-Patients-Department (OPD)
and installation of modern equipment and spare parts for its
maintenance, were funded wholly by the Government at a total
cost of about 75 million euro.
This was done through proceeds from the HIPC initiative and
the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
About two million euro, which would otherwise have been paid
as consultation fees to consultants, was saved as a result
of it being managed by the in-house technical team of the
Health Ministry.
German contractors, “GerTech”, undertook the job and it took
less than three years to complete.
President Kufuor urged the Ministry of Health, the Ghana
College of Physicians and Surgeons and the KATH Management
to ensure that the facility was used to train specialists in
trauma and orthopaedic surgery, intensive care and emergency
medicine, which were its major pre-occupation.
His expectation, he said, was that in the next few years, it
would become the sub-region’s leading centre for training of
health professionals in those specialties to justify the
huge investment put into its construction.
He noted that an emergency centre was worthwhile only when
victims got there in good time and said that was why prior
to its establishment, the Government put a National
Ambulance Service in operation to manage pre-hospital care
of accident victims.
Currently, the service has 24 stations, covering all
regional capitals.
President Kufuor said he was confident that with the coming
on stream of the facility, accident victims would now have
much better chances of survival.
He however pointed out that building world class facilities
alone was not enough and that there was also the need for
effective public education on accidents and their
prevention.
He directed the police, Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA)
and the Ghana Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to step up their
educational, monitoring and enforcement activities.
They should check impunity on the part of motorists, who
showed blatant disregard for traffic signs and warnings as
well as other road users.
Such offenders should be put before the courts and the
appropriate punishment exacted.
“Let us all agree to do all in our power to avoid
preventable accidents, which make such heavy investments in
the society unprofitable.”
Health Minister Courage E.K. Quashigah said the centre was
part of the strategy of reducing the high number of death
and disability due to accidents.
“Our vision is to develop this edifice into a Regional
centre of excellence for managing accident victims and
patients needing emergency care. We also intend that in the
very near future it will be a centre of training for health
personnel in the management of accidents.”
Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Chief Executive of KATH, said they
had rolled out a programme to ensure optimal use of the
facility in order to get maximum benefits from the
investment.
He said the hospital had sought best practices in the
management of accident and emergency centre from countries
like Israel, Germany, United Kingdom, the United States and
Italy, with a view to instituting functional management
structures for its effective running right from the onset.
Already, KATH had entered into a number of agreements with
some international voluntary medical organizations and
institutions to turn the project into a major centre for
specialist training for health professional in the West
African sub-region.
Dr Nsiah-Asare conveyed his appreciation to President Kufuor
for the vision, personal conviction and courage that made
the construction of the facility, possible.
GNA
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