The Rotary Club of Kumasi East has launched an initiative to establish an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital.

The $600,000 project is seeking to augment facilities at the hospital and improve healthcare delivery.

Apart from the university community, the KNUST hospital provides medical care for inhabitants living in communities within Kumasi and Ashanti Region as a whole.

The project is aimed at easing pressure on the current ICU of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and it is expected to be completed in June 2022.

President of the Club, Nana Kofi Ayesu-Boahene who spoke at the fundraising and a Presidential Ball in Kumasi said the unit upon completion would be the second of its kind in the region after KATH.

He explained that such a facility was critical in providing top-class health services to the people and added that “it will be equipped with eight beds and the right equipment for a smooth healthcare delivery”.

He further said his outfit was keen on assisting the management of the KNUST Hospital in setting up the centre due to the important role it will play in enhancing medical care for the people.

Nana Ayesu-Boahene said the Club would be undertaking some projects in the next few months across the country which will impact positively on inhabitants in beneficiary communities.

He mentioned some of the projects as the establishment of an ICT centre at Atasemanso, equipping dormitories of the Ashanti School for the Deaf, cervical cancer screening, Hepatitis B screening, and installation of X-ray equipment at Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw among others.

The Club he indicated remained resolute in solving problems in some deprived communities in the region and beyond in the areas of health, education, sanitation, and provision of potable drinking water.

The Head of Clinical Care, KNUST Hospital, Dr. Ababio Hanson, said the coming in of the project was essential since the number of critical cases recorded at the Hospital was a worry to management.

He explained that the hospital’s population was growing by the day and such an intervention will help deal with the huge number of critical cases recorded at the facility.

“An ICU setting for the Hospital is so essential,” he noted, adding that, they could not always rely on KATH for referrals since the latter had only six ICU beds.

Dr. Hanson also appealed to institutions and philanthropists to donate massively towards the establishment of the centre.

He also called on other institutions and philanthropists to emulate a good example of the Rotary Club of Kumasi East who have decided to complement government efforts at providing certain critical needs of people in society especially those in deprived communities.