Mahama announces new Korle Bu maternity block, calls old hospital building a 'death trap'

President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to demolish the ageing Gordon Guggisberg maternity building at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, describing it as a "death trap", and replace it with a new maternity block.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory at the National Cardiothoracic Centre on Thursday, the President said the government had begun the procurement process for the project.

"Let me also announce that we are going through the procurement process to build a new maternity block for the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital," he said.

Mr Mahama said the existing maternity facility had deteriorated to the point where it posed a serious risk to mothers, babies and healthcare workers.

"We will pull down the old Gordon Guggisberg building that has today become a death trap; every other day our mothers give birth in that building. It is a death trap that can cause devastation," he said.

The announcement signals a major infrastructure upgrade at Ghana's largest referral hospital as the government seeks to improve maternal healthcare and modernise ageing hospital facilities.

Mr Mahama said investing in healthcare infrastructure was central to his administration's development agenda, arguing that national progress should be measured not only by roads and bridges but also by improvements in healthcare and the well-being of citizens.

He said projects such as the newly commissioned cardiac catheterisation laboratory and the planned maternity block would ultimately be judged by the lives they save.

"The true significance of this facility will be measured not by the sophistication of the equipment, but by the countless lives it will save, by the families it will keep together and by the hope it will restore to a grateful nation," he said.