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The Mother and Baby Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, will be commissioned on Friday, January 19, 2018.

Joy News’ Seth Kwame Boateng’s documentary – Next to Die – highlighting the unnecessary deaths of babies at the country’s second-largest hospital, caused national outrage.

The First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo upon watching the documentary, partnered with The Multimedia Group and started the ‘Save a child save a mother’ campaign to raise funds for the construction of a befitting unit.

In just five months after the fundraising, an ultra-modern unit has been constructed and is ready to be commissioned.

It is expected to reduce drastically the mortality rate of mothers and babies at the hospital by an astonishing 60 percent.

The new facility will house the Maternal, Neonatal and Intensive Care units.

Seth Kwame Boateng is in the Ashanti region where preparations are underway ahead of the commissioning and reports that the final touches are being made and the facility will be handed over to KATH on Friday.

The new unit has three surgical theatres, meaning three women can undergo a caesarean section at a go.

A situation which was impossible in the past. Women had to stay in long queues before they could be attended to.

Also, babies will no longer share cots. The 30 cots in the new unit means that the situation where about four to five babies shared one cot will no longer occur.

The new facility also has 20 new incubators, and about 130 delivery beds and 12 mothers can go through delivery at the same time.

In the past, there were only two delivery beds and women in labour waited in queues for hours before they could deliver.

The new facility also boasts of an ultra modern feeding room. Mothers have been provided with recliner seats to make breastfeeding comfortable, healthy, in a clean and serene atmosphere.

The spokesperson for the First Lady, Shiela Sakyi Oppong said it is her joy and pride to have been able to partner with The Multimedia Group to achieve such a wonderful feat.