The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has paid a glowing tribute to the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF), declaring that the Trust Fund’s impact in just one year feels like that of an institution that has served Ghana for 70 years.
The commendation came as the Trust Fund handed over medical equipment and consumables worth more than GH¢4 million to KATH to strengthen specialised healthcare delivery at the hospital.
The donation includes a fully equipped Olympus endoscopy tower for gastroscopy and colonoscopy, two jaundice meters, and assorted respiratory, oxygen therapy and anaesthesia consumables. The items formed part of a larger consignment donated to the Trust Fund by Lifecare Technology Ghana.
Presenting the equipment, Administrator of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, said the gesture forms part of activities marking the Trust Fund’s first anniversary and reflects its commitment to equipping health facilities with the tools needed to save lives.
“We have done a lot for Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and we are ready to do more,” she said.
She explained that the equipment was allocated to KATH because of the hospital’s urgent need for the endoscopy system and other essential consumables. She also praised the hospital’s Board, Chief Executive Officer, management and staff for their strong support for the Trust Fund since it began operations.
For KATH, the donation could not have come at a better time.
The hospital’s CEO Dr. Paa Kwesi Baidoo, disclosed that its existing endoscopy machine is more than 10 years old and that management was already considering spending about GH¢800,000 on a replacement.
With the Trust Fund stepping in, the hospital can now redirect resources earmarked for the equipment into other critical services.
“This has really reduced my blood pressure because the monies we were going to spend on these essential items can now be channeled into other services to make sure we deliver premium services to Ghanaians we serve,” the KATH CEO said.
A 70-Year Wait Nears an End
Beyond the latest donation, KATH singled out the cardiac intervention centre currently under construction as one of the most significant interventions the hospital has received through the Ghana Medical Trust Fund.
According to Dr. Paa Kwesi Baidoo, despite its 70-year history, it has never had such a facility, but the establishment of the Trust Fund has now put that long-awaited dream within reach.
The CEO summed up the Trust Fund’s first-year impact in striking terms:
“The interventions the Trust Fund is providing make us feel you have been in existence for 70 years because your impact within just a year feels like you have been here forever.”
The latest donation adds to a series of interventions undertaken by the Ghana Medical Trust Fund at KATH over the past year, including support for specialised medical equipment and the cardiac intervention centre currently under construction.
For KATH, these interventions are addressing some longstanding gaps in specialised healthcare delivery and providing additional capacity to serve patients who depend on the hospital for critical care.
Story By: Eric Boateng
