President Akufo-Addo has inaugurated the second phase of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) at a cost of $14.5 million. This brings the cost of the entire project to GHC217 million.
The second phase will consist of a Cardiology Centre, Trauma and Orthopedic, Accident and Emergency Centres, as well as a Radiology and Pain Management centres among others.
At a Ceremony at the University of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo said the ultra-modern hospital, the first of its kind in West Africa, will strengthen the Government’s resolve to enhance the capacity of the country’s health facilities to provide medical tourism.
The 617-Bed University of Ghana Medical Centre is a turn-key project, meaning, a project owner under a single contract to complete all stages of a project from detail engineering through construction.
Construction of the Medical Center commenced in April 2013 and was originally scheduled to be completed in March 2016.
The Medical Center’s mainstay is to deliver healthcare at the Specialist level and play a pivotal role in managing complicated references from regional hospitals across the country.
The Second Phase will provide medical training and simulation centres and is expected to serve as a national facility to train health care professionals.
President Akufo-Addo noted that the ultra modern hospital is equipped with State of the Art equipment capable of simulating various disease conditions to enable health professionals to receive comprehensive hands-on experience.
He said the Ministry of Health will ensure there is availability of requisite skills mix of staff to deliver services at the hospital.
”Impact of the facility on health care delivery will be enormous”, he noted.
The CEO of UGMC, Dr Darius Kofi Osei noted that the staff strength is now more than one thousand and the facility is ”poised to deliver high level international standards of healthcare”.
Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu said additional 112 ambulances will be procured to augment existing fleet.
He said the government will continue to equip existing hospitals in order to improve health care delivery.