The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, will on Friday, January 19, commission the newly built Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), in Kumasi.

The project, initiated within her first year in office, was completed within a five-month period at a cost of about GHC10 million. It will house the Maternity, Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care units of the KATH.

The new facility is in the final stages of achieving EDGE Certification (IFC / World Bank Group) for sustainability and efficiency for the quality and sustainable materials and building techniques used in building it.

That will make it the first ever hospital to achieve EDGE Certification in Africa, and the first building of any type in Ghana to achieve EDGE Certification by the World Bank Group.

The certification process expects the building to save over 65 per cent of electricity, an expected savings of $180,000 versus traditional buildings.

It covers a total build area of 2,722 square meters, with an internal indoor area of 1,724 metre square, instead of the old MBU that had 350 metre square.

The building had been built to withstand earthquakes, fires and explosions and has temperature insulation and noise isolation capabilities.

The new facility has nine birthing beds instead of the former two at the old MBU, with three operating theatres, 130 cots, instead of the 46 formerly, as well as 15 incubators in addition to the three older ones.

It also has eleven paediatric beds, instead of the former four, with two infant ventilators, as the old MBU had none.

The Unit now has filtered fresh air and independent post delivery and post operatory rooms whilst the faucets, showers and toilets use low volume of water.

All the fitted lights are LED saving fittings that would ensure increase in the lifespan at minimum electricity consumption, while hot water is produced 100 per cent from Solar Water Heaters.

Its WCs have been piped independently to allow the use of borehole or recycled water and the flooring, done with medical grade vinyl that avoids bacteria and mould growth.

The buildings, also has a very efficient cooling system with HEPA filters as well as independent fans.

It has five different sources of power, which are, the national electricity grid, solar panels, battery power bank, the KATH’s main generators, and the facility’s own generator, whilst its main power source is from Solar Energy Panels

Mrs Akufo-Addo, initiated the new MBU project following a documentary aired by Accra based local Radio Station, which highlighted the avoidable suffering and deaths of mothers and babies at the KATH caused by congestion.

The First Lady, through the Rebecca Foundation, partnered the Radio Station to raise funds to build a new bigger and modern MBU that would help save lives of the mothers and babies who attended the hospital for healthcare.

Subsequently, Mrs Akufo-Addo organised two fundraising events in Accra and Kumasi which was highly supported by private individuals and corporate entities to aid the building of the project.

Meanwhile, over 99 per cent of the workforce that constructed the facility were Ghanaians and 70 per cent of them were from Kumasi, creating local jobs for all sorts of trades and supporting the local economy.