Multi-million dollar Upper West regional hospital 99% complete – Engineer
The 160-bed capacity new Upper West Regional Hospital is 99 per cent complete but will not be opened for operations until it is fully completed and staff trained to handle sophisticated gadgets that have been installed.
The Resident Engineer at the Hospital, Mr Ahmed Abo Shamaa, who led an inspection team to the facility, told reporters that the project is about 99 per cent complete and would be ready by the end of this month, June 2019.
But, the Upper West Regional Minister Dr Hafiz Bin-Salih told journalists that he would not be pressured to inaugurate the over $61 million project if it is not fully complete.
“We will not be pushed by anybody into commissioning a hospital that is not 100 per cent complete,” he said.
There had been increased agitations from sections of the public demanding the opening of the new hospital in recent times, but state officials say it would not be inaugurated for use until it is fully completed.
The health facility is stocked with the state-of-the-art equipment comparable to a teaching hospital according to officials, but the Minister said the gadgets required personnel with relevant training to operate.
He said service providers would have to be offered the necessary training before being posted to handle the sophisticated equipment.
It is anticipated that the facility would be turned into a teaching hospital and affiliated to the Wa Campus of University for Development Studies in future.
The Upper West Regional Director of Ghana Health Services, Dr Osei Kuffour Afreh, pleaded with residents to exercise patience over the opening of the hospital for the necessary things to be completed.
The edifice features a combination of single-storey and high-rise structures spread out on a 133,000m² land area.
It is connected by disability-friendly walkways and with green growing grass outside the walls in between the drainage system.
It hosts 12 different clinics including peadiatric, maternal health, ear, nose and throat (ENT), and dental facilities.
There are accompanying pharmaceutical department that has a storage space fitted with drug-preserving refrigerating equipment.
It also has seven different theatres with four of them on a surgical suite, two at the obstetrics and gyneacology department, and one at the emergency and casualty department.
It has an administrative block, an emergency/casualty unit, a radiology unit, a laboratory and blood bank, and a physiotherapy unit.
Also featuring are a burns unit, an intensive care unit, a three-storey in-patient block, a mortuary facility, three structures of 20-unit staff accommodation and a parking space for 300 cars.
Source: GNA