VRA breaks ground for construction of children’s ward 

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has broken ground for the construction of a modern children's ward and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Akosombo Hospital.The facility, scheduled to be completed by September 2026, will include 11 incubators, 16 beds, and an executive room to aid in quality healthcare for babies.Dr Kwabena Omare Yeboah, the Medical Director of VRA Health Services Limited, said this during a grand durbar as part of activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the hospitals.The hospitals are in Akosombo, Accra, Akuse and Aboadze.Dr Yeboah said the facility was primarily for preterm babies, stressing that for the past 60 years, the hospital had not had a children's ward as a unit and that it had always been part of the female ward.'Looking at the challenges we have, when you have a preterm baby, we have to send the baby to Koforidua or other facilities; sometimes the babies die in the forest in transit. 'When that realisation came, we decided that it is time for VRA on our 60th anniversary to look at something of this nature, to build up a neonatal intensive care unit and then a children's ward so that we don't have to transport these preterm babies to Koforidua and other places and lose them in the process,' he said.He said because the Akosombo enclave was a place where people came for holidays, the hospital had decided to construct an executive ward on top of the NICU to serve the needs of dignitaries in case they fell sick.The Medical Director said the hospital would continue to be a beacon of hope and healing for the generations in providing quality healthcare.Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, the Chief Executive of VRA, commended staff for their selfless contribution to the growth of hospitals.He said the Akosombo Hospital had been retooled with state-of-the-art equipment to carry out its operation effectively and efficiently.As a community outreach, the Authority he said had carried out an extensive public education on health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.'We will continue to deliver quality healthcare that is accessible to the public, innovate, and embrace technology to meet the needs of our patients,' he said.Mr Herbert Krampah, Minister of State at the Energy Ministry, said the event was a testament that the Ghanaian was capable of managing his own affairs for better outcomes.He acknowledged the hospital's hallmark of innovation as a driving force for its success.'Healthcare has gone to more preventive, commending the hospital for its resilience, dedication, and commitment to the state of the facility and continuing to be a pivot for power generation in Ghana,' he said.Source : Ghana News Agency