Kumasi (Ash), Jan. 21, - The
First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo says Ghanaians are better together and
capable of solving our challenges as a people.
“A people united, with a common
purpose, for the common good is all that we need to develop our country”, she
said.
Speaking at the inauguration of
the newly constructed Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching
Hospital in Kumasi, Mrs Akufo-Addo said considering the shame and outrage
regarding the vulnerabilities of mothers and children who used the old
facility, she was happy that Ghanaians responded to her appeal in May last
year, out of which the facility has been provided to the health sector.
She said she was proud and
grateful that Ghanaians from all walks of life came together to provide “a
place where our mothers and babies can receive care in dignity, with all due
respect to people who give us life and to future generations.”
She commended all those who gave
out equipment, supplies, cheques, cash, and mobile money transfers to support
the building of the project, saying, “Women, men, corporate bodies and even
children sent in their contributions”.
The USD 2.5 million ultra-modern
facility, built in a record of five months, was spearheaded by Mrs Akufo-Addo
and her team at the Rebecca Foundation, following the Multimedia’s Seth Kwame
Boateng’s “Next to die” documentary on the deplorable conditions mothers and
babies who attended the hospital for healthcare were going through.
The world class facility that had
earned EDGE certification, from a group affiliated to the IFC/ World Bank, for
being the only green hospital in Africa, covers a total build area of 2,722
square meters, with an internal indoor area of 1,724 metre square, instead of
the old MBU that had 350 metre square.
The building, which would house
the Maternity, Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive care and operating theatres of
the Hospital, had been built to withstand earthquakes, fires and explosions and
has temperature insulation and noise isolation capabilities.
It also has been well equipped
with nine birthing beds instead of the former two at the old MBU, with three
operating theatres, 130 baby cots, in addition to the 46 existing ones, as well
as 15 incubators in addition to the three older ones.
It has 11 paediatric beds, two
infant ventilators, filtered fresh air and independent post delivery and post
operatory rooms while the faucets, showers and toilets use low volume of water.
It has five different sources of
power, which are, the national electricity grid, solar panels, battery power
bank, the KATH’s main generators, and the facility’s own generator, while its
main power source is from Solar Energy Panels.
Commending the contractors,
African Building Partners for completing the facility within record time, Mrs
Akufo-Addo said Ghana needed to go green in the construction of public
facilities to save money over the long term and help preserve our environment.
She said “projects like this,
together with the needed interventions like the elimination of mother to child
HIV transmission, will get us closer to achieving our maternal and infant
mortality goals.”
The First Lady also urged
management of the Hospital to help maintain the facility to ensure it lasted as
long as possible “for children who will be born in this facility now to come
back to have their own babies in a well-functioning, well maintained facility.”
She said the construction of the
KATH facility has taught her three lessons of unity, of purpose, and the need
to brace all gender together with the combined force of the media, as a
powerful mobilisation tool, Ghanaians could pool resources together to build
the nation.
She said the first lesson was
that Ghanaians in unity, could attain solutions to all our challenges, adding
that the facility further affirms her confidence in the President’s dream of a
Ghana beyond Aid.
She said given Ghana’s enormous
natural and human resources, “we are capable of developing a truly strong
independent country which sits at the negotiating table as worthy partner and
from a position of strength.”
The First Lady said the second
lesson learnt was that gender, tribe, religion, political affiliation, age and
economic status did not matter.
“A people united, with a common
purpose, for the common good is all that we need to develop our country. This
is what struck me when Ghanaians from all walks of life came together to
support this project”, she said.
The third lesson learnt by Mrs
Akufo-Addo was that the media was a very powerful tool for national development
and urged the media “to take on more of the social issues that affect our
people”.
Meanwhile, Ms Francisca Osei
Tutu, a senior Staff Midwife at KATH, told the GNA that she was very happy with
the new facility since it would help ease the congestion that was the main
cause of infections among babies and their mothers.
Madam Amina Mohammed, a mother
admitted at the old Ward, thanked the First Lady for the facility, saying, she
would rather prefer to be admitted at the new facility the next time she is
placed on admission.
GNA
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