Residents in Kumasi and across the Ashanti Region have intensified calls for the swift completion of the stalled 500-bed Maternity and Children’s Block at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), following the hospital’s recent temporary suspension of emergency admissions due to severe congestion at its Accident and Emergency Centre.
According to the residents, the decision by management to halt new emergency admissions exposed the extent of pressure on the facility and reinforced the urgent need for expanded healthcare infrastructure.
They argue that the incident demonstrates how stretched the hospital’s resources have become and why the completion of the project can no longer be delayed.
As one of Ghana’s major referral hospitals serving the Ashanti Region and several other parts of the country, KATH continues to grapple with rising patient numbers, placing significant strain on its already overstretched healthcare system.
The situation at the Emergency Centre has become particularly worrying, with patients often forced to wait for limited bed space while health workers struggle to deliver care under difficult conditions.
For many residents, the abandoned 500-bed Maternity and Children’s Block represents a critical solution to the hospital’s capacity challenges and a key intervention to prevent future congestion crises.
The project was initiated to enhance maternal and child healthcare services and ease pressure on existing wards. However, construction has stalled for months due to funding challenges and delayed payments, forcing the contractor, CONTRACTA UK Limited, to lay off workers and suspend activities on site.
Residents say the prolonged delay is worsening congestion at the facility and denying thousands of patients access to improved healthcare services.
They further argue that once completed, the modern facility would significantly increase bed capacity, improve healthcare delivery for women and children, reduce pressure on the Emergency Centre, and create a more conducive working environment for healthcare professionals.
They are therefore calling on the government to urgently release the required funds to enable CONTRACTA UK Limited to return to site and complete the project without further delay.
