The dreams of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the premier teaching hospital to have a functioning Paediatric Intensive Care Centre (PICCU) was made a reality by the First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at a colourful ceremony at the hospital in Accra.

It was the dream of the then CEO Dr Felix Kwaku Anyah to construct the PICC unit for the Children’s Block of the hospital hence his appeal to the Rebecca Foundation leading to the sod-cutting in May 2019.

Even though Dr Anyah, who is also the Executive Chairman of Holy Trinity Medical Centre: SPA and Health Farm is no more the CEO of the public health teaching institution, his footprints are being felt.

Now sick children referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for medical attention will have access to improved healthcare following the opening of the new Paediatric and Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

The unit, constructed under the patronage of The Rebecca Foundation replaces the old children’s emergency ward, which has not seen any renovation since its construction in the 1960s despite receiving between 30,000 and 6,000 patients per annum.

Named after Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the PICU consists of a 21-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a 20-bed paediatric intensive care unit, a clinical laboratory, clinical pharmacy and office, a main reception, staff training, meeting and changing rooms – all fitted with disability-friendly toilet and bathing facilities.

Delivering her keynote address at the commissioning of the facility, Mrs Akufo-Addo, founder and chief patron of The Rebecca Foundation, said the project was in fulfilment of a promise she made following an appeal made by the Child Health Department in 2017.

“After extensive discussions with the management of Korle-Bu, we learnt that in all its 96 years, Korle-Bu has never had a paediatric intensive care unit.

We knew then that we had to give them one, but we decided to go further and build a facility that also has a neonatal intensive care unit and a high dependency unit,” she said.