Tamale Teaching Hospital: A critical investment for the north
About two years ago, when the then President, Professor J.E.A. Mills of blessed memory cut the sod for the rehabilitation, construction and expansion of the first phase of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), some people described the ceremony as a political gimmick.
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Teaching hospitals are specialised facilities where complex treatments and specialised services are provided. Indeed, they are a key part of the country’s safety net, providing healthcare to millions of people.
But, for a long time, the northern part of the country had been denied any of such facilities; a situation that compounded the health problems of the people in that part of the country.
At the ceremony in Tamale for the first phase, Prof. Mills was reported to have stressed his government’s determination to catapult the hospital to greater heights and gave the assurance that funds for the project had been secured.
He did not live to see the birth of the seed he sowed, but his predecessor, President John Dramani Mahama, who was the Vice-President at the time, carried the project on his shoulders when he assumed the leadership of the country.
Two years on, that vision has been achieved and last Thursday, I had the opportunity to witness the joint inauguration of the first phase and sod-cutting for work to begin on the second phase.
As I listened attentively to President Mahama delivering his 25-minute speech passionately, it dawned on me that the hospital had hit the path of progress and was ready to take its rightful place in national health delivery system.
A son of the land, Mr Mahama may have seen the rough times the hospital travelled in the past, pushing him to get the people out of the quagmire they found themselves.
As he spoke, tracing the history of the TTH project from the period of his predecessor to the massive work to be done in the second phase, the audience, including chiefs and political leaders, applauded.
Tamale growth
Tamale has developed very fast and I developed a special love for the northern regional capital immediately. It was my second visit to the metropolis and I was impressed with the roads, which were tarred or had asphalt on them. The streets were clean and I doff my hat for the city authorities and of course the government.
On a ride through the city with my colleagues, I was shown the famous Kaladan Park. It has been fenced with iron sheets. I did not enter the park to see the state of of the once dreaded arena where the club of my heart, Accra Hearts of Oak, and other greats including Asante Kotoko fell on a good number of occasions to Real Tamale United (RTU) in the past.
My information was that RTU blamed their relegation from the premier league to the decision by the Ghana Football Association to move their home games from the Kaladan Park to the Tamale Sports Stadium. Well this is superstitious.
Two suburbs that I loved visiting were Sabonjida and Sakasaka. Sakasaka is where the oldest football field in Tamale, the Sakasaka Park, is located. It has a grassless pitch and again, used to be a dreaded ground for the visiting teams RTU played, especially during the days of greats like Mahama Nlai, Mohammed Choo and Abedi Pele. As for Sabonjida, I heard its name long ago and my female Hausa friend told me in English it means ‘new house’.
First phase
When I entered the hospital for the first time, I was greeted by some imposing buildings that house the administration, wards, theatres and are used for other clinical activities.
They had been renovated and expanded under the first phase of the TTH project costing 39.3 million Euros with funding provided by the Royal Netherlands government. With the completion of the first phase, the bed capacity of the hospital now stands at 400. The second phase will add additional 400 beds to make it a total 800.
The first phase comprises a four-storey hospital building, named Building E, which has ancillary facilities such as theatres, accident and emergency department, intensive care unit, radiology, neo-natal and intensive care unit. There is also Building L which houses the mothers’ hostel, as well as Building M, which has the children’s ward.
Second phase
The second phase, which is also being funded by the Royal Netherlands Government at a cost of 48.5 million Euros, would comprise the construction of a five-storey building that will have the medical and surgical wards, faculty offices, tutorial and conference rooms.
There will also be a second five-storey block with operating theatres, maternity wards and related facilities, as well as a well-equipped three-storey accident and emergency centre.
There would also be a pathology unit and laboratory, the provision of a new gas plant and many other facilities including a waste management section and staff accommodation.
Critical investment
It is because of this and other good things that the President said, “This (hospital) is a critical investment that will bring immense benefits to the people of the Northern Region and beyond.”
Again, the President said the hospital was set to be developed into a centre of excellence and promised that his government would seriously work towards that. For him and rightly so, it was critical for health development in the north to match the population growth.
Tamale, whose population stood at 400,000 when the hospital was established in 1974, has now almost quadrupled in population.
History of TTH
The TTH, originally the Tamale Regional Hospital, was built in 1974. From that time, the hospital did not see additional development even though the client base continues to surge.
In 2007, the then government decided to upgrade the facility to a teaching hospital but that did not materialise until the NPP government exited power in 2008.
On assuming the presidency, the late Prof. Mills decided to pursue the project and finally cut the sod for the first phase to begin in 2010 and that dream has begun to bear fruit.
A teaching hospital is affiliated to a medical school and in the case of the TTH, the affiliation is to the Medical School of the University of Development Studies (UDS). Initially, clinical training for the UDS medical students was done at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. While on the hospital premises last Thursday, I saw some of the medical students being trained in medical care.
With the development at the TTH, the UDS is now in a position to train more doctors for northern Ghana and other parts of the country. Again, the hospital will serve as a training ground for other health professionals.
Hospital management system
One major innovation that has come with the TTH is the introduction of the Hospital Administration Management Systems (HAMS). It involves the computerisation of virtually every activity at the facility, and today, the system is yielding immense results.
Coming on board as part of the rehabilitation of the TTH, the HMAS project undertaken by a Kumasi-based ICT firm, Infotech Dot Net Systems Limited, led to the provision of a software to facilitate the operations of the hospital.
Among the positive developments brought about by HMAS is the significant reduction in the number of hours spent when retrieving information on a patient to facilitate effective health care.
Just the click of a button will help a health worker who is computer literate to access any information he or she needs to perform a particular function.
Today, management of patients’ records, keeping track of cash inflows, daily and hourly performance of doctors and other health personnel and the various wards and units have been largely enhanced.
The Director of Finance at TTH, Mr Karim Kuuri, said in an interview that before the introduction of HAMS, the hospital was collecting an average of GH¢400,000 a month as National Health Insurance claims. But the amount started increasing when the HMAS was in full operation, and in October last year, GH¢649,000 was collected.
With the cash-and-carry system, the hospital made an average of GH¢60,000 but it now bags an average of GH¢109,000.
The Chief Executive Officer of Infotech Dot Net Systems Limited, Dr Abu Yussif, said the success story of TTH should encourage other health facilities to hook onto the system.
The future
The hospital may not have reached the apex of its development yet but suffice it to say that it is cutting a path – that may not be long though – to become one of the best medical centres; not only in Ghana but in Africa.