Kumasi, May 16, GNA - The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi is to set up an Intensive Care Foundation to solicit donations from individuals and corporate bodies.

The purpose is to generate the requisite financial resources to properly cater for all critically ill or injured patients who need Intensive Care Unit (ICU) services. Professor Ohene Adjei, Chief Executive Officer of the hospital announced this to close the 10th Annual National Update Course in Anaesthesia organized by the Directorate of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care of the hospital in collaboration with the University of Utah of the United States of America.

About 160 nurse anaesthetists from regional, district as well as private and mission hospitals took part in the three-day course, which sought to update the knowledge of anaesthesia practitioners in order to guarantee quality health care delivery in their hospitals. He said the setting up of the Foundation had become necessary as a result of the high cost in ICU care and the inability of most patients to afford their medical bills.

Professor Ohene Adjei said access to a well resourced and functioning ICU was indispensable in curtailing preventable deaths in emergency situations. He said, however, running an ICU facility was one of the most expensive undertaken in the health care delivery sector. He said KATH was committed to interventions aimed at improving anaesthesia and intensive care practices in the country and commended the University of Utah, for supporting the hospital in anaesthesia training for the past 14 years. Professor Ohene Adjei appealed to the public to financially support the Foundation to succeed by catering for the needs of the critically ill but poor. Dr Gabriel Boakye, Head of Directorate of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care of KATH, said the Nurse Anaesthetist Training School and the Ministry of Health are collaborating with KATH and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to start a Bachelor of Science programme in Anaesthesia. He advised the participants to use the knowledge acquired to improve the safety of surgery in their hospitals.

He added that they should also be able to train all health workers and non medical staff as well as people in their communities in basic life support in order to reduce high incidence of preventable deaths in the country. Dr Jeff Peters, Leader of the University of Utah team, said the University would continue to assist KATH in terms of equipment, logistics and other teaching and learning materials to provide training on anaesthesia to practitioners in the country. 16 May 10