Already, the hospital has constructed a production house, while it is making efforts to secure the necessary equipment to begin production.

The project is being financed by the hospital from its internally generated funds (IGF) and the Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH), with collaboration from the Pharmacy Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) and Pharmanova, a pharmaceutical company.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Hilarious Abiwu, said the hospital initiated the project as part of its efforts to reduce the huge expenditure on basic medicines.

“We buy a lot of medications, but we also have very qualified pharmacists. We thought that with the necessary infrastructure, we should be able to produce some of the basic medicines that pharmacists are trained to produce. We have the support of the Pharmacy Department of Korle Bu and Pharmanova to get the project off the ground by the middle of this year,” he stated.

Expansion

Meanwhile, the hospital has rolled out a programme to rehabilitate and expand some of its facilities to meet the health care needs of patients within its catchment area, which covers Krachi Nchumuru and the Krachi East District in the Volta Region, the Kpandai District in the Northern Region and the Sene East District in the Brong Ahafo Region.

As part of the KOFIH’s sponsored Maternal and Child Health Improvement Pilot programme, the hospital has refurbished its Maternity Block and completed an abandoned administration block.

Additionally, it is constructing a 50-bed capacity children's ward and a modern conference facility which will be equipped with a skills laboratory.

According to Dr Abiwu, who is also the acting Krachi West District Director of Health Services, the skills laboratory, when completed, would facilitate the hands-on training of students of the Krachi Nursing and Midwifery School, while the conference facility would be fitted with teleconferencing equipment to enable the staff  to participate in distance training programmes.

He said the renovation of existing facilities, being counterpart-funded from the hospital's IGF, would also decongest the wards and create space for the admission of more patients.