Korle Bu ICU to reopen in two weeks
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital will open fully to the public in two weeks, after almost two years of a partial closure.
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Two theatres of the Neurosurgical Unit are also ready to be opened after being shut down for renovation, which has seen some of the facilities replaced and its oxygen system connected to the hospital’s central system.
Officials of the unit told media personnel during a tour of the facilities last Tuesday that they had acquired enough consumables to last about a year.
Clearing backlog
The consultant anaesthetist in charge of the Intensive Therapy Unit, Dr Chris Owoo, said the theatres would be made to work consistently at least three to four times a week to clear the backlog of patients who had been booked for surgery.
While he could not immediately give the number, he said the list was long and could take quite a while to clear.
He said what the unit was doing now was applying final touch ups, while it awaited its final consignment of consumables which was likely to arrive by the end of the week, before it began drills to satisfy itself with its preparedness to receive patients.
ICU
The biggest centre in West Africa, the ICU, which handles surgeries, including brain tumour and spine problems, closed two of its theatres, meaning that during the period, only one theatre was available, leading to a long list of patients awaiting surgery.
It was established in 2009 as a four-bed ICU and now has facilities including laboratories, ventilators, X-ray machines, dialysis machines and heart monitors.
It also has a central monitoring system which monitors the performance of patients, making it easy to track their recovery.
“You can’t do complicated surgeries if you cannot take care of the patients after surgery. A lot of the surgeries that are done in advanced countries but could not be done here in the past can now be done here,” Dr Owoo said.
He said the unit had drawn up a plan to ensure sustainability and promote a culture of maintenance that would ensure that the facility is not closed down again,
“The unit has started negotiations with the hospital administration to get procurement processes to start early enough so that equipment and consumables will not run out and get deplorable before the next consignment arrives,” he added.
Support
While acknowledging that the unit was receiving positive responses from corporate Ghana by way of contributions to keep the centre running, Dr Owoo also appealed to them to contribute to the trust fund established by the hospital.
The first day at intensive care costs GHc2,800 and subsequently at least GHc1,600 daily, but the unit charges patients GH¢600 because most of them do not have the means.