On March 1, the long-awaited launch of the maternity operating theatre at Ridge Hospital took place. The First Lady of Ghana attended, as well as representatives from the project partners including Mrs. Nagwa Kattah, President of GIWC (Ghana International Women’s Club, a charity organization), and Dr. Medge Owen, Founder of Kybele. The new maternity operating theatre will ease some of the difficulty in performing emergency C-sections. At times in the past, the overcrowded surgical facilities made it impossible to perform emergency surgery. Ensuing delays have cost both babies and mothers their lives. This new facility should make a significant difference. Read the Official Press Release below:
Ridge Hospital gets new operating room for emergency childbirth care
A modern operating theatre dedicated to emergency childbirth care was officially opened at Ridge Regional Hospital on March 1, 2012. This new theatre will allow Ridge Regional Hospital to respond more rapidly and completely to the needs of women throughout the Greater Accra Region who need emergency childbirth care. The new facility makes it possible for medical doctors to reduce delays in performing cesarean sections, thus saving the lives of the mothers and their babies.
The well-equipped theatre, capable of supporting two life-saving operations at a time, is the result of a strong collaborative effort of the Ministry of Health, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ghana International Women’s Club (GIWC) and Kybele Inc. (a US NGO).
Each of the partners provided critical inputs for the theatre. GIWC raised funds to finance the renovation works and oversaw the day-to-day construction to turn the unused, dilapidated former operating theatre into a modern facility. USAID provided new medical and surgical equipment for the theatre and recovery area through its Focus Region Health Project. Kybele provided volunteer medical staff who worked closely with the Ridge Regional Hospital staff to increase operational capacity and promote continuous quality improvement and efficiency within the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. The Ministry of Health and its agency, the Ghana Health Service, supported the Ridge Regional Hospital with engineering expertise.
Dignitaries at the opening ceremony included the First Lady of Ghana, Her Excellency Ernestina Naadu Mills; the Minister of Health, Honorable Alban Bagbin; and the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ghana, Cheryl Anderson. USAID Director Anderson indicated, “This event demonstrates how readily the American people join hands with the Ghanaian Government and its committed partners to reduce maternal and child deaths in Ghana.” A proud president of GIWC, Mrs. Nagwa Kattah stated, “GIWC realized the need of this dedicated theater to improve the maternal health care of the women in Ghana. We are grateful for the support towards this project from the partners and our donors.”
This renovation of a disused area of the hospital directly contributes to Ghana’s achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four and five. MDG 4 aims to reduce the mortality of children under five by two thirds, and MDG 5 aims to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters from 1990 to 2015.
