President John Dramani Mahama has inspected progress on a new Cardiothoracic Centre at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, describing it as a landmark investment in specialist healthcare for northern Ghana, while directing the Ministry of Health to begin planning for a cancer treatment centre in the region.
The president, who was visibly satisfied with the pace of construction, said the facility would be the first of its kind across the Savannah region, a development he described as long overdue for a population that has for years been forced to travel south for even the most urgent cardiac care.
President Mahama revealed that the push to build the centre was triggered by a painful and avoidable loss. A medical doctor in Kumasi had urgently required access to a catheterisation laboratory ,a cath lab used for angioplasty but the one in Kumasi was broken down at the time. The doctor was rushed to Accra, only to find that facility had suffered a fire incident and was also out of service.”So unfortunately, he died” he said
The tragedy prompted the government to procure two catheterisation labs for Accra and Kumasi, before extending the plan to include a third for Tamale.
“And we said, ‘But why don’t we get one for Tamale too?’ So that at least geographically across the whole country, we would have a cath lab so that in the event that somebody needs that urgently, they’d be able to be treated.”
It quickly became clear, however, that installing the equipment without the necessary supporting infrastructure would not be sufficient. When the cath lab arrived in Tamale, officials realised the hospital lacked the full range of services including an ICU, wards, and consulting rooms needed to make it fully operational. “It meant that we needed to build a whole Cardio Centre for Tamale in order to install the cath lab and give them all the ancillary services,” the president explained.
Inspecting the ongoing construction, President Mahama expressed confidence in the timeline.
“I’m satisfied with the rate of work, and I’m sure that it should be completed soon. All the equipment is available, and as soon as the construction work is finished, the equipment will be installed.”
He expressed hope that the facility could be commissioned as early as next year.
Filling a Gap Across the North
The president was emphatic about what the facility means for the people of northern Ghana, noting that no comparable infrastructure currently exists anywhere in the region. Patients who suffer cardiovascular incidents in the north are typically stabilised before being referred all the way to Accra or Kumasi a dangerous and costly journey that the new centre is intended to eliminate.
“The significance of this facility is that in the whole of the northern sector, there is no facility like this,” he said. “Today, we’re giving the people in the whole of the north of this country a facility where they also can have a good chance of survival in case they have a cardiac incident.”
He noted the centre would draw patients well beyond Ghana’s borders adding that this facility will receive patients from Burkina Faso and other parts of the sub-region . President Mahama acknowledged the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund for funding the project.
Cancer Care Next on the Agenda
Beyond the progress at the Cardiothoracic Centre, President Mahama turned his attention to cancer care, noting that patients in the north currently face an especially difficult journey to access treatment. At present, cancer patients must travel all the way to Kumasi or Accra for radiotherapy and other specialised services.
“So I’ll throw it again to the Ministry of Health , we thank you, but like Oliver Twist, we’ve secured…” he said, signalling that his ambitions for the region’s healthcare infrastructure were far from finished. He directed the ministry to begin looking at establishing a cancer treatment centre in Tamale, insisting that patients in northern Ghana should not have to travel south for specialist cancer care.
He also called for the continued expansion of centres of excellence at Tamale Teaching Hospital, pointing to the model used at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
“I believe that the way to go with our teaching hospitals is to continue to set up these centres of excellence. We did that with Korle-Bu; we did the Plastic and Burns unit, we did the Oncology unit, we did the Cardiothoracic unit.”
President Mahama added that Tamale deserved the same level of investment and attention.