The COVID-19 National Trust Fund has inaugurated a refurbished 18-bed COVID-19 isolation and treatment centre for the Pantang Hospital in Accra Tuesday.
The facility which is aimed at easing the challenges of inadequate beds which might be associated with treatment of COVID-19 cases is fully equipped with medical equipment such as patient monitors, laryngoscopes, nebulisers, pulse oximeters, digital B.P. apparatus, suction machines (double bucket) and autoclaves.
It also has consulting rooms, isolation and treatment wards, a nursing station, waiting and triage area, offices and stores to support health care delivery.
Inaugurating the facility, the Chairperson of the Trust Fund, Justice Sophia Akuffo (Rtd) said in July last year, the Board of Trustees, approved an amount of GH¢806,600.00 to Pantang Hospital for the renovation and equipping of Ward 8 to serve as its COVID-19 Isolation and Treatment Centre.
This, she said, was in response to the threat that the disease posed to patients of psychiatric hospitals and the lack of isolation centres to manage any potential outbreak.
According to Justice Akuffo, the support was also intended to help the hospital achieve its objective of helping people to recover from mental and physical illness, thereby providing treatment that allows inmates to lead full and productive lives.
She indicated that the board of Trustees was convinced that the financial assistance to the project had the potential to increase the number of isolation and treatment centres across the country for the care and management of persons infected by the disease.
She indicated that the support was in line with the mandate of the Fund, which stipulates the application of funds to needy and vulnerable persons affected by or infected with the COVID-19.
“Despite the initial challenges that delayed commencement of the project, we are extremely happy that the facility is coming on stream at this time, when the Delta variant is wreaking havoc in homes and communities and claiming innocent lives,” she added.
She said the project would bring some respite to caregivers with the facelift of facilities at the centre, compared with the dilapidated situation as at July 2020.
The Chairperson of the COVID-19 Trust Fund commended the management of Pantang Hospital for assisting the project with GH¢16,000 from its internally generated funds (IGF) to support the funding of landscaping and acquisition of curtains.
The Director of Pantang Hospital, Dr Frank Banning, in a speech read on his behalf said the Centre was purposely established for COVID-19 patients with psychiatric conditions.
He said the hospital recognised the need to create an isolation centre for the screening of patients suspected of having the disease, hence, Ward 8 was earmarked as COVID-19 Isolation Centre.
He hinted that the centre could admit about 22 patients and was capable of serving the health needs of Ghanaians who needed COVID-19 treatment.
With the upsurge of COVID-19 cases, and due to the Delta variant cases being reported in the country, Mr Banning anticipated that the number of cases that would be referred to the centre would increase and that the hospital would need a regular supply of oxygen and other essential medical consumables for COVID-19 management at the centre.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
