The people of Osu and its environs on Thursday heaved a sigh of relief following the commissioning of the newly renovated and refurbished Osu Government Maternity Home by the First lady of the Republic of Ghana, Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo.

The renovation and refurbishment of the facility a project of The Rebecca Foundation comes after eighty-nine years of near maintenance-abandon, with only touches of artisanal work to keep it operational.

Addressing a gathering of distinguished invited guests at the commissioning, Mrs. Akufo-Addo said being a native of Osu herself she was always distraught whenever she received news of the passing of expectant mothers during delivery or newborns. “That is why” she said, “when my people came to see me assist in refurbishing and renovating the Osu Maternity Home, I quickly made contact with some of our partners and sponsors to execute this project and today I am happy that the Osu Maternity Home has undergone extensive renovation works to upgrade it into a modern facility that provides world-class services to its patients”.

The First Lady expressed her profound gratitude to the Chines Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Shi Ting Wan for promptly responding to their call for assistance and Build-Hull Construction Company for its timeous and efficient execution of the project.

Among other things, a new delivery theatre has been added to the Home, increasing capacity from one (1) functional delivery bed to four (4) delivery beds. Antenatal focus consulting rooms have been increased from one (1) to three (3). The lying-in-ward has also been fully refurbished with new hospital beds, bedside tables and new glass access doors which allows for better monitoring of expecting mothers by the nurses on duty.

A nurse’s room has also been created to ameliorate working conditions for nurses as well as improved interconnecting corridors and disability rumps at all access areas to make the home disability-friendly.

The facility now has a refurbished clinical laboratory, clinical pharmacy, a new sterilization room, and a placenta pit, as well as a new Matron’s office.

Additionally, the maternity home has been fully rewired to solve a long-standing challenge of power leakages, low load capacity and the danger of old exposed cables. LED lights and inverter split air-conditioning units have been used all around the building to reduce the power consumption of the Home.

To ensure easy transportation in cases of emergency and referral cases, The Rebecca Foundation has also provided the Osu Maternity Home with an emergency Ambulance, the absence of which previously resulted in the needless loss of lives of mother and child.

Expressing their appreciation to the First Lady and The Rebecca Foundation, Matron of the Osu Maternity Home, Ella Hansen-Owoo, said the timing of the renovation and commissioning could not have been better. She said for years, management of the Osu Maternity Home has been soliciting funds to replace worn out hospital equipment and provide advanced medical gadgets to improve on health delivery to the people, with little success.

“However”, she said, when we made contact with the First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo through The Rebecca Foundation to assist us in this regard, a favourable response was not long in coming and today we are elated to join her to commission a well-equipped maternity home to provide all medical services needed to ensure safe delivery of our pregnant mothers and sisters, and ensure the safety of our new babies”.

On her part, Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services expressed optimism that the newly refurbished and renovated maternity home with its expanded facilities can now attend to an increased number of delivery cases without compromising the quality of care given to expecting mothers.

Dignitaries present to grace the occasion included Chinese Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Shi Ting Wan and his wife. Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Tina Mensah, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon.Elizabeth Sackey, MCE for Korle Klottey, Nii Adjei Tawiah as well as some traditional leaders.