By Murtala Issah
The US government has donated a 60-bed mobile field hospital for critical casualty care to the Ghana Armed Forces in Tamale. The donation by the United States, valued at over seven million Ghana cedis, includes an intensive care unit, two surgical operating rooms, an x-ray, laboratory, aa morgue, emergency room, and two generator sets.
The field hospital can be transported and assembled even in remote locations and houses up to 60 patients for full medical and operational needs under any condition.
The state of the art, fully aequipped, portable medical facility can be rapidly deployed to the scene of a disaster or where residents do not have access to routine health care.
Speaking during the ceremony near Tamale, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, emphasised that the donation is further evidence of the close U.S.-Ghana security partnership, which ensures the Ghana Armed Forces have the full complement of skills and equipment to defend the borders and to provide critical military and civilian casualty care.
Ambassador Palmer reiterated that, the US government is committed to implementing programs in Ghana that will support local communities to enhance the livelihoods of vulnerable populations, strengthen military-to-military relationship, and bolster the capacity of the Ghanaian security services to ensure that Ghana remains resilient in the face of an increasing threat from violent extremist organisations.
The mobile hospital combines humanitarian with military assistance, providing essential services and protection to Ghana’s civilian population as well as the Ghana Armed Forces.
Ambassador Virginia Palmer stated that the US government is “implementing programs in Ghana that will support local communities as they seek to provide economic opportunities to vulnerable populations, strengthen our military-to-military relationship, and bolster the capacity of the Ghanaian security services to ensure that Ghana remains resilient in the face of an increasing threat from violent extremist organisations.”
The Minister of Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, commended the US government for the support, saying it shows the bond of friendship between Ghana and the United States. The Minister revealed that the mobile hospital will serve as the necleus of the Tamale Military Hospital. He assured the US government that, the Ghana Armed Forces, will do its part to ensure that the facility is put to optimum use.
“The maintenance of this state-of-the-art facility should be dear to the Staff deployed here and the Leadership of the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Services to ensure its longevity and serve as the precursor to establishing the Tamale Military Hospital with its adjourning barracks and other facilities,” he stressed.
In 2021 and 2022, the United States supplied Ghana with a 30-bed field hospital equipped with negative pressure isolation facilities, a five-bed ICU-supply facility, and a U.N. Level 1 urgent care facility valued at over 28 million Ghana cedis.
