For years, expectant mothers seeking care at the Keta Municipal Hospital faced overcrowded wards, with some forced to lie on the floor as the facility struggled to cope with growing demand for maternal healthcare. Two years after the MTN Ghana Foundation commissioned a state-of-the-art 60-bed Maternity and Child Health Block, hospital authorities say those challenges have largely become a thing of the past, with the facility transforming maternal and child healthcare delivery in the municipality. Constructed at a cost of more than GH¢15.2 million, the maternity block was handed over in March 2024 as part of the Foundation’s corporate social responsibility programme to improve access to quality healthcare.
According to Hospital Administrator Faruk Iddrissu, the investment has significantly expanded the hospital’s capacity while restoring dignity to childbirth. “We used to have a very small maternity ward, and it was difficult to provide the quality care mothers deserved. At times, women had to be managed on the floor because of congestion,” he recalled.
He described the transformation since the commissioning of the facility as remarkable. “The MTN Foundation has given us more than a building; it has given mothers dignity and improved access to quality healthcare.” The modern complex comprises a 40-bed maternity ward with emergency rooms, delivery suites, recovery and lying-in wards, two operating theatres, consulting rooms, an intensive care unit, laboratory, dispensary, outpatient department, pharmacy and a 20-bed mothers’ hostel, bringing essential maternal and neonatal services under one roof. Hospital records indicate that the facility has recorded approximately 25,000 antenatal care visits over the past two years, reflecting growing confidence in its maternal healthcare services.
During the same period, more than 6,000 women were admitted for delivery and related maternal care—an average of about 3,000 admissions annually. Mr Iddrissu said the hospital has also recorded improvements in key maternal health indicators, including maternal mortality, which remains one of the critical measures of quality maternal healthcare. For healthcare workers, the facility has also transformed the working environment.
Maternity Ward In-Charge Grace Gunu, who has worked at the hospital for seven years, described the maternity block as a turning point in the hospital’s hi…
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