A 24-bed capacity Oncology Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) was at the weekend inaugurated to help improve healthcare delivery.

Sponsored by the Ghana International Bank (GHIB), the ward would increase the chances of survival of patients that are treated at the Oncology Unit. 

The Member of the United Kingdom House of Lords and Chairman of the Board of the GHIB, Lord Paul Boateng, said the project was motivated by earlier visits to the ward, which was in a deplorable state.

“We are here because we believe in the mission of the management of Korle Bu to establish it as a Pan African centre of excellence. We are aware there are challenges and the KBTH can’t address them all on its own so we decided to step in to help,” he bemoaned.

 Lord Boateng pledged the support of GHIB to Korle Bu to ensure its mission to be the centre of Pan African excellence in terms of healthcare delivery and training of medical practitioners, was achieved.  

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KBTH, Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, expressed the desire of the hospital to build a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre to commemorate the hospital’s 100 years of professional healthcare delivery next year but “the lack of funds wouldn’t make that possible.” 

He expressed that the support rendered to the KBTH would not only benefit the Oncology Unit but the entire KBTH as “KBTH was not only a hospital but a house of training for all medical practitioners so any support to us would be felt everywhere since almost all practitioners are trained here.”

He appealed to other philanthropists to support, not only KBTH but Ghana’s healthcare system to ensure smooth and effective healthcare delivery. 

 The Head of Paediatric Oncology Unit at the KBTH, Prof. Awo Renner, in her remarks said that the newly renovated ward would make a big difference in healthcare delivery at the Oncology Unit saying that “we will be able to control infections and that will go a long way to help children. We are hopeful that due to this facility, a lot more children will survive.”

The CEO of GHIB, Mr Dean Adansi, noted that the commissioning of the ward was to “see what the money donated had been used for” as it would encourage us to donate more towards the improvement and establishment of various healthcare facilities.  

Lord Boateng was accompanied by his wife, Lady Janet Boateng and board members of GHIB namely, Mr Dean Adansi, Mr Raymond Sambou, Sundeep Bhandari and Calum Thomson.

BY JESSEL LARTEY THERSON-COFIE