Torgbi Dzelu IV, ‘Dufia’ of Dzelukope in the Keta Municipality of the Volta region has commended MTN Ghana Foundation for its initiative to construct a modern Maternity Block for the Keta Municipal Hospital.
He said the project when completed, would not only augment the infrastructural deficits of the hospital but also help in improving maternal health delivery in the Municipality.
Torgbi Dzelu, who was speaking in an interview observed that government alone could not fix all the shortfalls in the health sector and so efforts by benevolent organizations like MTN Ghana Foundation to improve health delivery in the country needed commendation.
To this end, he called on other NGOs and well-meaning individuals to emulate “these worthy causes” and pledged the support of the Dzelukope traditional area in any way possible towards the successful completion of the project.
In a separate interview, Mr Farouk Iddrisu, Administrator of the Keta Government Hospital also praised MTN Ghana Foundation’s move to construct the maternity block for the hospital.
He described the initiative as timely due to the growing and sometimes overwhelming numbers of pregnant and expectant women that visit the facility daily to access maternal health which he attributed to the government’s Free Maternal Health delivery program rolled out on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Mr Iddrisu said the project when completed would be a great relief for the hospital as the current maternity unit was too small to contain the numbers.
He also promised that the management of the hospital was prepared to support MTN Ghana Foundation in any way to ensure that the project was completed successfully.
MTN Ghana Foundation recently cut sod for the construction of a 60-bed maternity block for the Keta Municipal hospital.
The project is expected to be completed within 12 months at about GHc15.2M.
The project would comprise a 40-bed maternity ward, made up of emergency rooms, a first-stage ward and a delivery ward including recovery rooms and a lie-in ward, and a 20-bed Neonatal Care Unit (NICU).
The facility when completed would also include: two operating theatres, a 20-bed hostel for mothers, two consulting rooms and offices for nurses, reception and out-patient department areas, a laboratory and Dispensary, a Scrub & Sluice Room, Anaesthetics Room, Intensive Care Ward, Restroom for Doctors & Nurses, and Staff eatery
Mr Selorm Adadevoh, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony, said, “This hospital is an important health facility delivering healthcare to several communities in the Keta Municipality and its surrounding communities.
“As important as this facility is in the region, it is faced with several challenges- According to the authorities, the current maternity ward has a capacity of only 20 which is inadequate for its over 3,000 maternity and 684 NICU admissions annually.
The high demand for services at the facility results in several patients having to endure inadequate conditions to get through their pregnancy.
“We are hopeful that when completed, the facility will bring relief to many expectant mothers and the staff here- Expectant mothers who visit this facility will no longer go through the struggles they are facing today,” Mr Adadevoh added.
Dr Senanu Kwesi Dzokoto, Volta regional director of Health Services, who was present at the sod-cutting ceremony expressed his gratitude to MTN Ghana Foundation for the project.
He said “the project is a dream come true and would greatly impact positively the healthcare delivery of the people of the region”
Since its inception in 2007, the MTN Ghana Foundation has implemented over 158 major projects in areas of health, education, and economic empowerment at a total cost of over USD 15 million.
These projects are estimated to have impacted over 4 million people within the country.
