Ghana News-After months of controversy, the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), has been officially opened as Ghana’s first Quaternary centre.
This follows a media campaign led by Citi FM and the Ghanaian public who demanded that the multi-million dollar facility, commissioned by a former President John Mahama several months ago is operationalized.
The facility, which was initially scheduled to open in November 2017, was kept locked to the public due to a tussle between the Minister of Health and the University of Ghana over who manages the $217 million facility.
The government, however, announced the opening date after persistent outrage. The facility is currently been run by an interim management Committee with an acting Chief Executive Officer already in charge, aside from the about twenty general staff.
Citi News’ Caleb Kudah, who was at the opening ceremony reported that about twenty general staff are currently at the facility, ready to attend to patients referred there.
Meanwhile, the Head of Capital Projects at the Ministry of Health, Ben Ampomah Nkansah, has said five additional health facilities will be completed and will be ready for use before the end of this year [2018].
“There are about two regional hospitals and six district hospitals. As I speak to you most of them are almost at the level of completion. By November we will be looking at the completion of Wa Regional Hospital, Tepa District Hospital as well as Madina. Nsoko in the Brong Ahafo will also be completed. The other four which includes Twifo Praso, Salaga, Kumasi and Konogo is slated for completion by the end of first quarter of next year.”
Ghanaians start ‘Open UGMC’ campaign
A few weeks ago, some Ghanaians signed an online petition as part of a social media campaign to push the government to operationalise the 597-bed capacity University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC).
The campaign was led by one Reginald, who argued that the hospital cannot continue to be ‘worshiped’ when the country’s health system is facing many challenges.
What is quaternary healthcare?
The term quaternary care is sometimes used as an extension of tertiary care in reference to advanced levels of medicine which are highly specialized and not widely accessed. Experimental medicine and some types of uncommon diagnostic or surgical procedures are considered quaternary care.
These services are usually only offered in a limited number of regional or national health care centres. A quaternary care hospital may have virtually any procedure available, whereas a tertiary care facility may not offer a sub-specialist with that training.
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