MTN Ghana Foundation commissioned an ultra-modern 60-bed maternity and child health block at the Keta Municipal Hospital (KMH) in the Volta Region on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
MTN Ghana gifted the hospital a state-of-the-art facility to boost access to quality healthcare services for mothers and babies. The initiative is part of MTN's healthcare projects and is a significant project to mark the company's 25th anniversary in Ghana.
The outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, said, "This is the third, and by far the largest, of the maternity block projects the MTN Ghana Foundation has ever completed in Ghana.".
The new block has a 40-bed maternity ward, made up of emergency rooms, a first-stage ward and a delivery ward, recovery rooms, and a lie-in ward; a 20-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU); two operating theaters; a 20-bed hostel for mothers; two consulting rooms and offices for nurses; a reception; and an outpatient department (OPD).
The block also has a laboratory and dispensary, a scrub and sluice room, an anaesthetics room, an intensive care ward, a restroom for doctors and nurses, a staff eatery, storage and washrooms, a ramp, an electrical and power room, a head of the department's office, gas tanks, waste bins, and utility rooms.
The facility cost MTN Ghana Foundation GHC19 million, and according to Adadevoh, MTN Ghana hopes "to reduce Ghana's neonatal mortality from the dire 22.8 deaths in every 1000 live births, closer to the target set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 12 deaths per 1000 live births, and for maternal mortality, from Ghana's dire 263 per 1000, closer to the SDG target of 70.".
Selorm also revealed that MTN Ghana has plans to expand the accident and emergency block at the Ho Teaching Hospital.
"I am proud to also share that we have recently received approval for the expansion of the accident and emergency block of the Ho Teaching Hospital. Work is expected to commence in June 2024," he noted.
Various stakeholders at the commissioning ceremony, including the Keta Municipal and Volta Regional Health Directorates, thanked the MTN Ghana Foundation for the gesture and promised to prioritise a maintenance culture for the facility.
The King of Anlo, Togbe Sri III, applauded MTN Ghana for all the interventions they've initiated in Anlo.
Keta Municipal Hospital is the only major health facility in the southern part of the Volta Region. Over the years, the hospital has received support from benevolent individuals and organisations to enhance healthcare delivery in the area.
According to some residents, MTN Ghana's intervention would now seize their toil to travel out of Keta to access maternity and child health due to a lack of working equipment and space.