The Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service have announced plans to launch the new Dodowa District Hospital in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region in early December this year.
Construction of the state of the art hospital commenced in 2014 and is the first to be delivered under the national Built To Care initiative by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with UK construction firm, NMS Infrastructure Limited.
Built to Care is a pioneering programme that is helping Ghana lead the way for all of Africa in modern sustainable healthcare.
It seeks to provide state of the art facilities and services that are designed, built and managed by Ghanaians. Following the Ministry of Health’s national survey of health needs and services, similar hospitals are being constructed in Fomena and Kumawu in the Ashanti Region; Sekondi in the Western Region; Abetifi in the Eastern Region and Garu in the Upper East Region; with additional upgrades being made to the Takoradi European Hospital, where construction of staff accommodation is currently underway.
Each hospital will have 120 beds, dedicated medical staff, ultramodern operating theatres, maternity and paediatric wards, modern and local public health and traditional medicine programmes.
The hospitals are also designed to be capable of expansion from 120 beds to 200. They will become cornerstones of their local communities by providing family-friendly environments including gardens, play areas and accommodation for hospital visitors, and through community outreach and health awareness initiatives that will help give people the skills and knowledge to lead healthy lives.
The Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman, says the District Hospital Programme, being delivered at a cost of $175 million, will greatly improve access to healthcare services when completed.
He was thus excited about the completion of the first of the new generation hospitals at Dodowa, which will replace the old hospital. He added that progress is being made on the other six hospitals in spite of various challenges, confirming that the land acquisition for Sekondi is progressing and that the final hurdles over site selection will be surmounted.
Deputy Chairman of NMS Infrastructure Limited, Frederik Hsu, said the hospitals are designed to be cost effective to build, easier to maintain and cheaper to run, ensuring that patients receive the highest quality treatment that is affordable, accessible and provided in safe, secure and pleasant environment.
He noted that “visitors to the hospital will benefit from shorter waiting times as the new hospitals will have greater capacity than the hospitals they are replacing”. Over 1,000 people in Ghana and the UK have been involved in the Built To Care programme.
According to Peter Marks, Programme Director, the project currently employs 950 skilled and semi-skilled Ghanaians and six Ghanaian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have set up to provide services and future training.
He added that over 100 Ghanaian suppliers are engaged in a $50million Ghanaian supply chain, and NMS is directly supporting five local children’s charities.
Local Partner of NMS Infrastructure and Chairman of Genelec Holdings, Kojo Hastings, confirmed that NMS will continue to provide technical support and training to Ghana Health Service health-workers for a period of three years following the opening of each hospital to contribute to the long term success of the project.
About NMS Infrastructure NMS, an international service provider, offers a full design, building and training services for the development of locally appropriate health-related infrastructure.
The company brings to bear the expertise in the field to provide the latest innovation and design. It also delivers total solutions for social infrastructure projects in education, energy, affordable housing, water and sanitation.
Beyond providing health infrastructure, NMS takes corporate social responsibility projects seriously providing support for education and health projects in the countries where they operate.
Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com
