The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has received medical equipment and consumables worth more than GH¢4 million from the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF) to strengthen specialised healthcare delivery at the facility.
The items include a fully equipped Olympus endoscopy tower for gastroscopy and colonoscopy, two jaundice meters, as well as respiratory, oxygen therapy and anaesthesia consumables.
The donation forms part of a larger consignment donated to the Ghana Medical Trust Fund by Lifecare Technology Ghana and was presented to KATH as part of activities marking the Trust Fund’s first anniversary.
Presenting the items, Administrator of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, said the intervention was aimed at supporting health facilities with essential equipment to improve patient care and save lives.
“We have done a lot for Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and we are ready to do more,” she said.
She explained that KATH was selected to receive the equipment because of the hospital’s urgent need for an endoscopy system and other essential consumables.
Ms Darko-Opoku also commended the KATH Board, Chief Executive Officer, management and staff for their support for the Trust Fund since its establishment.
The Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Dr Paa Kwesi Baidoo, said the donation had come at a critical time, particularly because the hospital’s existing endoscopy machine is more than 10 years old.
According to him, management was considering spending about GH¢800,000 to replace the ageing equipment before the Trust Fund intervened.
He said the donation would allow the hospital to redirect funds earmarked for the replacement of the endoscopy machine to other critical areas of healthcare delivery.
“This has really reduced my blood pressure because the monies we were going to spend on these essential items can now be channelled into other services to make sure we deliver premium services to Ghanaians we serve,” Dr Baidoo said.
He also highlighted the cardiac intervention centre currently under construction at KATH as one of the most significant interventions supported by the Ghana Medical Trust Fund.
Dr Baidoo said that despite KATH’s 70-year history, the hospital had never had such a facility, but the establishment of the Trust Fund had brought the long-standing need closer to realisation.
“The interventions the Trust Fund is providing make us feel you have been in existence for 70 years because your impact within just a year feels like you have been here forever,” he said.
The latest donation adds to other interventions by the Ghana Medical Trust Fund at KATH over the past year, including support for specialised medical equipment and the ongoing cardiac intervention centre.
The hospital said the interventions were helping to address longstanding gaps in specialised healthcare delivery and expand its capacity to provide critical care to patients.