The Nyaho Medical Centre on Wednesday commissioned an ultra-modern comprehensive ‘Mother and Child Unit,’ with adult and Neonatal critical care services, at its Airport branch in Accra.

The Janet Wing; which houses a Mother and Child Unit with a six-station Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which is expandable to 10, was named after Mrs Janet Tamaklo, wife of the Founder, and Emeritus Board Chair of the facility.

Dr Elikem Tamaklo, the Managing Director of the Nyaho Medical Centre, in an address, said the state-of-the-art five-station Adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU), was also part of the expansion programme of the Centre, and its commitment to bridging the significant gap in critical care support in the country.

He explained that all the critical care services, including the existing theatre and wards, were supported by a full-fledged solar energy system, which was developed through a partnership with Ecoligo and Dutch and Co.

“This will offer consistent and uninterrupted power supply with the back-up of the national grid, industrial-grade UPS, and generators to ensure the safety of patients,” he said.

Dr Tamaklo said the GH¢ 4.5 million investment works were motivated by the Centre’s mission to transform the lives of patients and their families by exceeding expansions in healthcare and inspiring hope for a better Africa.

He added that the seven bedded maternity unit was specifically designed for the comfort and well-being of both the mother and her family, saying it was made up of delivery suites and shared rooms equipped with fully automated delivery beds for labour, delivery and recovery.

He also said since safety was a key priority of the Centre, through strategic partnership with the General Electric (GE) Healthcare, the Mother and Child Unit, NICU and ICU, were equipped with the most comprehensive medical equipment, including adult and paediatric ventilators, adult vital organ support, maternal and fetal monitors to closely support and pick up any variations in the mother and child during the birthing process, and also radiant warmers for babies among many others.

These investments in critical care services, the Centre was determined to complement the minimal availability of critical beds in the country with the aim of helping to sustain and improve the quality of life of Ghanaians and expatriates alike, Dr Tamaklo said.

Dr Ernest Konadu Asiedu, the Head of the National Quality Management Unit, Ministry of Health, commended the Board and Management of the Nyaho Medical Centre for its contribution in all aspects to support government’s effort in health care delivery.

He said maternal health had improved significantly in Ghana over the past twenty years although “we are not yet where we would like to be,” but indicated that various policies have and were still being implemented by the government to improve the statistics, citing the implementation of the Free maternal health policy under the National Health Insurance Scheme, as a key intervention to promote use of maternal health services.

Dr Asiedu stressed on the importance of sustainable Public Private Partnership as a driving force towards achieving the health targets of Sustainable Development Goals of reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.

Other key targets are to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age, as well as reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births and under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births.

He said the government would continue to create a favourable macro-economic environment for business growth and further commended the Nyaho Medical Centre for taking advantage of this.