Outspoken Physician Dr Hadi Mohammed Abdallah says the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) will better serve Ghanaians and the country if it were a specialised centre.
According to the neurosurgeon, the facility, constructed by the Mahama administration, is cast in the mode of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and will therefore suffer the challenges being faced by the biggest referral hospital in West Africa.
He said UGMC should have been made a centre for specialised units of Ghana’s health system.
“The facility should have been constructed as a specialised centre. It could have become the centre of excellence for various critical conditions. We could have had the oncology centre, neurosurgery and all the specialist units as centres there. And that could have easily raised the money to run the facility because we get cases from other African countries and such treatments are expensive.
“In its current state, it is just like Korle Bu so all the challenges facing Korle Bu will be faced there too soon. UGMC is not functioning to the level we want it to be. Government should consult health practitioners when building health projects like that,” he told Nana Aba Anamoah on Starr Chat.
Dr Abdullah sparked a national conversation about health infrastructure in the country when he recently claimed in an interview that he could not secure a bed in his own ward when he had an emergency.
“Last week I was sick and you’ll be surprised that there was no bed for me. Last month I had an emergency while at work, I needed to be admitted to my own ward. You won’t believe it, there was no space for me.”
“They had to admit me into the nurses, the BDMS, her office, she had a bed there. That’s where they kept me,” he told Francis Abban on Morning Starr.
Dr Abdallah further narrated the ordeal his department has been facing saying “the neurosurgery ward is always full. And over the years, if you go to the accident center more than 50 percent of the beds there are being occupied by neurosurgery cases.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5fm
