The Parliamentary Select Committee on Health has called on the government to complete the long-delayed 500-bed maternity and children’s block at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), warning that the unfinished project represents a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The committee made the demand during an inspection of the incomplete facility and the hospital’s new catheterisation laboratory in Kumasi.
Patrick Boakye-Yiadom, the committee’s Deputy Ranking Member, said it was unacceptable that a project designed to improve maternal and child healthcare had remained unfinished for years.
“Successive governments will come and will not continue projects that are ongoing. It’s very bad; we must stop and must make sure we make good use of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.
The contractor told the committee that civil works on the maternity and children’s block were about 56 per cent complete, while procurement had reached approximately 75 per cent.
Mr Boakye-Yiadom appealed to the Mahama administration to make the project a priority. He said completing the facility would widen access to specialised healthcare for mothers and children from Ghana and neighbouring countries.
The committee’s visit also focused on progress at KATH’s new catheterisation laboratory, which is intended to improve the hospital’s ability to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions.
Contractors said construction of the specialised facility was 67 per cent complete. Dr Kurt Mark Nawaane, chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, said he was confident the cath lab would be handed over to the government on schedule.
Dr Nawaane described the facility as one of the President’s legacy projects and praised the contractor for the progress made.
Project manager Abraham Fiscian said all the equipment needed for the cath lab was already in the country apart from a lift. He said installation would begin after finishing works were completed and added that the project team expected to meet the December deadline.
KATH Chief Executive Officer Dr Paa Kwasi Baidoo said the hospital was working with the contractor and consultants to ensure the facility was delivered on or before December 31, 2026.
He said the cath lab would increase the hospital’s capacity to provide specialised cardiac care. Dr Baidoo also announced plans for further developments, including an ultramodern oncology centre and a kidney centre.
The hospital has secured additional land to support some of those planned projects, he added.
Mr Boakye-Yiadom said the urgency being applied to the catheterisation laboratory should also be extended to the unfinished maternity and children’s block.
“The same seriousness we are attaching to this cath lab project should be attached to all the other projects. Because no project is demeaning. All projects are required,” he said.
Completion of the two facilities would help KATH meet separate but equally important needs: providing specialised treatment for heart conditions and expanding services for mothers and children.
