Kumasi, July 18, GNA - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on Tuesday cut the sod for work to begin on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Teaching Hospital project at a ceremony at Boadi, near the University in Kumasi. The project, which is being executed by the College of Architecture and Planning, is being financed by the University in collaboration with the Ghana Education Trust (GETFund) at the cost of about 125 million dollars.

The state-of-the-art facility would cover a land area of some 71 acres and would be equipped with a total of 2,500 beds when completed within an anticipated six-year period in three phases. The hospital would, among others things have a cardiothoracic and neurosurgical centre, diagnostic unit and laboratory, morgue, administration and Out-Patient-Department (OPD) block, wards, security post, effluent chambers as well as a laundry unit.

In an address, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who is the Chancellor of the University, was optimistic that the hospital would contribute greatly towards uplifting health care delivery in the country when completed. He charged stakeholders to work assiduously towards the speedy completion of the project, noting that: "As a country and as people we can only develop and become a middle-income group only if we take the health of our people seriously".

The Chancellor bemoaned the limited number of teaching hospitals in the country and said this had significantly impeded serious research work and clinical studies by medical, nursing and laboratory technology students.

He admonished medical students and health workers in general to be guided by the code of ethics of their profession, saying it was about time that they resolved to stay in the country in order to contribute effectively to national development.

Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, said the idea of a teaching hospital for the university was mooted some three decades ago when the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) was instituted. He announced that the first phase of the project was expected to be completed in two years and would involve the construction of administration and OPD blocks.