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A sod-cutting ceremony has been performed for the construction of a modern neonatal intensive care unit attached to the Eastern Regional Hospital at Koforidua.

The GH¢1.9 million edifice, named Nana Owiredu Wadie I Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), is a one-storey 40-bed capacity hostel within the building to house only mothers.

It consists of a children’s ward for NICU babies, Out Patient Department (OPD), consulting rooms, conference rooms, high dependency ward, low dependency ward, an additional mothers hostel, stable patient ward, isolation ward, standard OPD and emergency ward.

The facility is being executed by Kabaka Foundation owned by Nana Owiredu Wadie I, the Nkosuohene of Kwahu-Nkwatia, who is also the financier of the project.

The project, which is to be completed within 12 months, is to help reduce neonatal mortality at the hospital.

Alleviating suffering

At a short ceremony on the hospital's premises last Monday for the commencement of work, Nana Wadie I said he decided to undertake the project when he observed the difficulties patients and their relatives went through when he first decided to give a facelift to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

According to him, he took inspiration from God to alleviate the suffering of humanity, especially premature babies and their mothers.
That, he indicated, would put smiles on the faces of the mothers at the hospital’s NICU.

Birthday presence
 
Nana Wadie I pledged to hand over the facility to the hospital on his birthday, which will fall on September 28 this year.

He commended the management of the hospital for giving him the space to construct the facility.

Gratitude

For his part, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Arko Akoto-Ampaw, said after seeing the good work of the Kabaka Foundation when it gave the Intensive Care Unit a facelift, the hospital asked the foundation to put up the new structure.

Dr Akoto-Ampaw said he was happy that the Kabaka Foundation had responded positively to the hospital's request.

He stated that when completed, it would significantly reduce the stress that both patients and medical staff went through.

He thanked Nana Wadie I and the foundation for the assistance and appealed to other philanthropists as well as well-to-do Ghanaians to emulate his good example.

Some of the excited mothers told the Daily Graphic that their suffering would soon come to an end with the provision of a new NICU facility.