Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has fina= lly installed one of the two lifts at the Maternity Block. The installation of the new one paves the way for the second one to be installed.

The Hospital, through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), acquired 13 lifts at the cost of GH¢2.4 million to be installed at the various Departments of the Hospital.

The Chief Executive of the hospital, Professor Nii Otu Nartey, praised the media for putting the hospital management on its toes and helping to make the installation possible.

He said management would follow it up with a maintenance agreement wit= h CFAO Ghana Limited, the company installing the lifts. It has a one-year guarantee.

Mr Francis Dometry, Head of Lift Construction at CFAO, said the lift could carry 21 persons.

It consumes less energy and an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system would be fixed to safeguard it against power fluctuations, he added. "The interesting thing about the lift is that it is disability frien= dly and has buttons with Braille inscriptions to aid sight challenged persons,= " Mr Dometry said. Over the past five years, lifts at the nation's premier hospital hav= e become obsolete and dysfunctional. As a result, patients have had to be carried physically on stair cases to wards to access care. But the hospital management last month explained that the acquisition of the new lifts had delayed because of procurement procedures, as well as the need to dismantle the old ones before the new lifts could be installed. During a recent media tour of the hospital in January, journalists saw four double system elevators that were being installed at the Maternity, Surgical, Medical and Child Health Blocks.

Another five single lifts with the capacity to take 13 people were being installed at the Chest, Eye, Ward A and G, and the Radiology Departments.

It is expected that installations at the other departments would be completed in March. In another development, doctors of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department have used their 2010 bonuses to refurbish its library and are also in the process of computerizing it. Prof. Sam Obed, Head of Department, said they deemed it fit to forfeit their bonuses to help them upgrade their knowledge, adding that doing so online was easier.