OTUMFUO DONATES URINE ANALYSER TO KNUST (GRAPHIC NSEMPA , PAGE 15, PRIL 19, 2010)

By George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

As part of measures to enhance efficiency in quality health care delivery at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) hospital, the Chancellor of the University, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has donated a urine analyser machine to the management of the hospital.
With the donation of the equipment, the time of diagnosing kidney related problems, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes among others, would be greatly reduced to enhance quality health care.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is also the Asantehene, made the presentation at the first annual communication of the Provincial Grand Lodge North meeting held at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi last Saturday.
The analyser machine was donated to Otumfuo Osei Tutu by Nana Osae Nyampong, the Grand Master of the Lodge.
In view of delays experienced by patients through manual laboratory tests to analyse urine, kidney problems and cardiovascular diseases among others, at the KNUST hospital, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II donated the machine to the hospital to arrest that situation.
In his address, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said quality health care delivery was now a major issue in the country, “so there is the need for all stakeholders to collaborate to make it effective and efficient”.
This, he said, would enable the country have a productive working force, ready to support accelerated socio-economic development.
Commending Nana Osae Nyampong for his humanitarian gesture, he said the donation was their widow’s mite to support health care at the KNUST hospital.
He therefore, charged the medical personnel at the hospital to be committed to their professional responsibilities to enhance quality health care delivery to win the confidence of patients who sought medical care.
The Pro Vice Chancellor of the KNUST, Professor William Otoo Ellis, who received the machine on behalf of the hospital, was full of praise for Otumfuo for selecting the hospital as the recipient of the machine.
He pointed out that “the hospital is next to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, (KATH) in the Ashanti Region, in terms of health care delivery, but we lack basic equipment that would enhance quality heath care”
He explained that apart from the over 25,000-student population that the KNUST hospital caters for, it also addresses the health care of about 19 suburbs in the Kumasi metropolis, thus bringing undue pressure on the hospital.
Professor Ellis said it was therefore important for stakeholders to support the KNUST hospital with medical equipment and supplies on regular basis, to enable them cater for the numerous patients who trooped there daily to seek medical care.