The Bank Hospital has now been opened to the public, with a pledge to provide quality service for clients, in line with best practices.
Constructed by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) at a cost of €80 million, the 65-bed facility, which is located at Cantonments in Accra, comes with a state-of-the-art intensive care unit, general wards and exclusive executive suites, a paediatric ward, maternity and nursery and neonatal intensive care units.
The facility, which will be managed by Halcom Management Services (HMS), also has theatres, a well-equipped outpatient department and an emergency unit.
Expansion
The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Adisson, said the hospital, which started as a clinic some 34 years ago and had now been expanded and modernised, would serve not only staff of the BoG but also the public.
“The bank clinic has come a long way over the period, with an expanded clientele base of bank staff — both active and retired, dependents and staff of other institutions. The records indicate that the medical department attends to more than 14,000 patients per year, with an estimated 1,200 patients per month.
“Given the size and facilities at the Bank clinic, the statistics clearly showed an uncongenial working environment, characterised by general congestion and clientele dissatisfaction. Furthermore, total active and retired staff population had increased to more than 3,000, with a dependent population of about 10,000, which is projected to exceed 15,000 in the coming years,” he added.
According to Dr Adisson, the facility was handed over to the BoG in April 2018, but had some critical outstanding electrical, mechanical and biomedical works to be completed.
He said an implementation committee was subsequently set up to help with the operationalisation of the hospital, following recommendations by a blueprint committee.
Dr Addison commended past governors and management of the bank for their various contributions towards the establishment of the hospital.
“At the time of taking office in April 2017, the new Management inherited three different Bank Projects at different stages of completion, namely, the development and construction of the 65 bed-hospital, and a 56-bedroom guest houses in Takoradi and Tamale. Based on the work completed on the hospital project, the Board took a decision to continue with the remaining works to completion.”
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said his outfit was not involved with the project, adding that “not all hospitals in the country are under the purview of the MoH”.
He said there were five categories of health providers in the country, and that the MoH was in charge of only one of them.
The minister mentioned the Christian Health Association of Ghana, the security agencies, quasi-government institutions such as the BoG and the private sector which also provide and manage health facilities in the country.
Commendation
The Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, commended the current administration of the BoG for continuing a project started by its predecessors.
He, however, said “many times we have such wonderful edifices opened with a lot of excitement, but a year or two later, you see them in a bad state. I hope and trust this hospital will be managed well”.
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Ampontuah Kumah, also applauded the BoG for the project.
“We believe that the establishment of this hospital will help reduce the practice of flying people outside the country to receive health care. The Bank Hospital has come at such an important time to fill that gap,” he added.