Korle Bu Hospital: Pregnant Women Forced To Use Stairs As Elevators Malfunction – Reports
Pregnant women have recourse to stairs after the elevators at the maternity ward of the Korlebu Teaching Hospital broke down, according to reports.
A concerned Ghanaian who visited the premier health facility located in the heart of Accra shared footage of the situation and sent it to TV3, who published it on their official Twitter platform. The mainstream TV station attached this caption to the video to draw the attention of the government to the seemingly sad situation;
Situational Report from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital: The elevators at the maternity ward are not functioning, so pregnant women have to use the stairs – @hughes_onair
Works on the elevators, including the one at the maternity ward, commenced in 2010 after the contracts were awarded to CFAO Ghana Limited.
13 elevators in the maternity and surgical blocks would be replaced with priority, according to Professor Nii Otu Nartey, the hospital’s chief executive officer, who made the announcement at a press conference in Accra. Funds from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) made it possible to replace the elevators for an estimated cost of GH2.4 million.
“I am happy to announce that we have made significant progress in the installation of 13 new elevators in the clinical areas of the hospital”.
“Work is progressing steadily and all the elevators would be installed and handed over to the management by the end of March 2011, barring any unforeseen contingencies,” he said.
The Maternity Block elevators, according to Prof. Nartey, have made steady progress, and one elevator was promised to be fully fixed by the end of January 2011. The Surgical Block, where an elevator will shortly be rebuilt, was also under construction. The Child Health Department, Department of Medicine, Allied Surgery Sub-BMC, and Radiology would all begin installation construction in January 2011. Prof. Nartey assured the audience that the work would be carried out in a way that would not disrupt hospital patients.
“The Board and management have worked tirelessly to have the elevators replaced and would not rest until completion,” he added.
In the management’s quest to improve quality of care given to patients and clients, a clinical ethics and professionalism committee, was being formed to address major concerns and grievances of patients.
