No surgical Theatre at Tema General Hospital

The lack of adequate facilities is affecting the smooth operation of the Surgical Department of the Tema General Hospital.

Although the department has specialists to perform surgeries, the hospital has no surgical theatre.

It also has no life-support machine, leading to trauma and orthopaedic cases being referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The Head of the Surgical Department, Dr Francis Caiqo, made this known to the Daily Graphic when officials of the Tema Lube Oil Company (TLOC) presented a life-support machine valued at GHc110,000 to the hospital.

He indicated that the hospital had, over the last decade, been operating a make-shift surgical theatre, as the main theatre on which rehabilitation works started some 15 years ago had been abandoned due to the lack of funds.

Dr Caiqo pointed out that while officials were saddened by the surge in surgical and trauma deaths at the facility, their hands were tied, as many appeals for the hospital to be equipped for enhanced delivery had been ignored by stakeholders in the health sector.

Presentation

The Board Chairman of the TLOC, Mr Kow Abakah Quansah, who made the presentation, said the company saw the need to provide the needed support to enhance health delivery at the hospital because it was the only referral centre close to four major highways.

The TLOC, he said, had, in the past, renovated the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and provided an ambulance each for the Tema General Hospital and the Tema Polyclinic.

"Our social responsibility goal is dedicated to the health sector, as we believe in the well-being of the public who are contributors to our company's profitability," Mr Quansah stressed.

Expanded Accident Centre

The Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital, Dr Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, who received the equipment, commended officials of TLOC for going to the aid of the hospital.

He indicated that the facility, which was built in 1952 and handed over to the government in 1962, needed assistance to operate efficiently.
Writer’s email: delarussel@gmail.com