The long wait for advanced cardiac care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital could soon be over, with construction of its Catheterisation Laboratory now 67 percent complete.
Contractors are racing against time to finish the project by December 2026, after missing the original August deadline, with all major medical equipment already procured and awaiting installation.
But a member of Parliament’s Health Committee, Professor Titus Beyuo, says completing the facility is only half the battle, warning that without trained specialists and technical staff, the facility may fail to deliver the life-saving care patients need.
He says the facility would need complementary staff for timely and comprehensive care for cardiac-related diseases.
“We don’t only need the cardiothoracic surgeon or interventional radiologist. But we need a complement of all these sets of human resources. We should by now have people in training at countries where these procedures are done frequently like Singapore, US, Canada and others,” he noted.
Prof. Beyuo urged the health ministry and the Trust Fund to take immediate steps to facilitate training of human resource personnel in world-class facilities overseas that perform such cardiac interventions.
“We should select nurses, engineers, assistants and send them for training so that by the time we are ready for commissioning we’d also have the requisite human resource ready for work,” he said.
For decades, the KATH has operated without a catheterisation laboratory, compelling patients who require advanced cardiac procedures to travel elsewhere to seek attention.
The absence of the facility presented challenges to patients requiring timely diagnosis and interventions for serious heart conditions.
The need for improved cardiac services is urgent amid growing concerns about the rising number of heart disease and cardiac emergencies.
Heart attack and cardiac arrest cases at the hospital have seen over a 250 per cent increase in the last ten years, with several people with such conditions losing their lives.
The CATH Lab project forms part of efforts by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund to establish a Cardiology and Interventional Centre at KATH to improve access to specialised cardiac care.
Parliament Health Committee paid a working visit to assess the progress of work at the facility intended to transform medical care to heart-related diseases.
Consultant for the project at ADB Construction Limited, Abraham Fiscian, is confident of completing the facility in December 2026 after missing its initial deadline.
“As we sit here today, all equipment for this project is in the country. The only thing for this project that is not in the country now is the lift. Apart from the lift, everything is in our warehouse, and as soon as the finishing works are ready, we’ll bring them here and install,” he said.
Mr. Fiscian said the contractor was focused on completing the outstanding construction and finishing works to allow the equipment to be installed and the facility prepared for use.
He expressed confidence that the project would be ready by the end of the year, provided the remaining works proceeded as planned.