The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital‘s surgical block needs urgent attention due to the building’s unappealing state.
Pictures circulating on social media revealed the facility is deterioating due to failure by management and the Government to pay attention to it.
The facility seems to have not seen any major renovation works for a long time, making it dirty.
Meanwhile, social media has chided the ministry of healt and management failure to find ways of bringing back the faciity to suit its current purpose.
In 2021, management handed the block to Katalon Ghana Limited for extensive renovations.
The renovations included restoration of all cracks, removal of deteriorated metals, external painting, replacement of mosquito nets and casting of concrete to shield the first floor from rain.
The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, was founded on October 9, 1923, has 2,000 beds instead of its original 200.
Currently ranked as Ghana’s top national referral center, it is the third-largest hospital in Africa.
Under the leadership of Sir Gordon Guggisberg, the then-Gov. of the Gold Coast, Korle Bu, which translates to “the valley of the Korle lagoon,” was established as a general hospital to serve the needs of the indigenous population.
There has been an increase in hospital visits in Korle Bu as a result of population expansion and the effectiveness of hospital-based care.
The government was obligated to establish a task committee in 1953 to investigate the issue and offer recommendations for the hospital’s development because the demand for its services had reached such an all-time high.
The UGMS and five other constituent schools are now subsumed under the College of Health Sciences to train an array of health professionals. All the institutions of the College however, undertake their clinical training and research in the Hospital.
At the moment, the Hospital has 2,000 beds and 17 clinical and diagnostic Departments/Units. It has an average daily attendance of 1,500 patients and about 250 patient admissions.
Clinical and diagnostic departments of the hospital include Medicine, Child Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pathology, Laboratories, Radiology, Anaesthesia, Surgery, Polyclinic, Accident Centre and the Surgical/Medical Emergency as well as Pharmacy. Other Departments includes, Pharmacy, Finance, Engineering, General Administration.
The Hospital also provides sophisticated and scientific investigative procedures and specialisation in various fields such as Neuro-surgery, Dentistry, Eye, ENT, Renal, Orthopaedics, Oncology, Dermatology, Cardiothoracic, Radiotherapy, Radio diagnosis, Paediatric Surgery and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns.
The Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burn Centre, the National Cardiothoracic Centre and the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine in particular also draw a sizeable number of their clientele from neighbouring countries such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Togo.