The University of Ghana Medical Centre has partially begun phase II of its operations.
After recruiting a 181 additional staff, the hospital says it will now offer services in areas such as general surgery, cardiology, and urology.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of an induction ceremony for the new recruits, the CEO of the UGMC, Dr. Darius Osei, however, warned patients to continue to respect the hospital’s ‘referral only’ policy.
“We are still saying that in this facility you must be referred…So far as I don’t have the right personnel then it will really be unwise for me to receive patients and start seeing them. That will make it an ordinary policlinic and so gradually we must recruit the personnel for which areas that this facility has the requisite equipment and then make sure once you receive that patient it becomes the last stop of care”.
Parliament approved a 47 million Euro loan for the completion of phase two of the University of Ghana Medical Centre somewhere in June 2019.
The Head of Customer and Public Relations at the Centre, Barbara Owusu-Hemeng in September 2019 said that the University of Ghana Medical Centre would scale up health delivery services to patients in November this year.
The hospital previously offered out-patient services in only three units covering the pediatric, gynaecology and family medicine departments.
There were challenges with the operationalization of the hospital due to a tussle over whether government or the University of Ghana should manage the 615-bed facility.