Accra,- Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, on Tuesday broke the ground for the construction of a Cardiothoracic Centre at the 37 Military hospital in Accra.
The Centre, when completed will be the second to the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, with a capacity to provide specialist diagnostics and treatment for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
It will also offer training and research opportunity to medical staff in Ghana and beyond.
Mr Agyapong, who was speaking at the ceremony, urged stakeholders to ensure quality healthcare systems in the country for better services.
He presented a cheque for GH₵1, 200, 00.00 to the Ghana Armed Forces as his commitment to the construction of the Centre and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Force.
Mr Agyapong said the Centre when completed would have wards, a state-of-the-art Operating Theatre, an Intensive Care Unit, Echocardiography services, a High Dependency Unit, a dedicated Radiography Unit and Cardiac Catheter Laboratories.
“My little research had revealed that only a few countries in West Africa have the resources required to deliver optimum cardiac care to its people because cardiac surgery required sophisticated diagnostic and surgical techniques, as well as high level infrastructure operated by medical staff with advanced training and expertise,” he said.
The Assin Central MP said research also indicated that not much could be done to reduce the incidence of congenital heart defects, and a high number of persons would continue to require prompt and reliable surgical interventions, hence the need to concentrate efforts towards enhancing the country’s capacity in that aspect of healthcare.
He commended all health workers for their relentless fights and contributions towards the containment of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the country and to urged then to assume the right attitude to work.
Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, Chief of the Defense Staff, said the groundbreaking ceremony marked an important step towards the construction of a state-of-the art Cardiothoracic Centre for the Hospital.
He said the Centre would require well-trained and highly qualified specialists to man it saying; ‘‘I believe that now is the time to start considering the human resource aspect of the Centre. The requisite discussions and action for the sponsorship for training has thus commenced with consultations’’.
He lauded the MP for his kind gesture and called on well-meaning Ghanaians to emulate his exemplary initiative to improve healthcare delivery in the country and assured the support of the Ghana Armed Forces to ensure the successful completion and utilisation of the Centre.
Source: Ghana News Agency