BY ISSAH OLEGOR
The long-running push to replace the ageing maternity infrastructure at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has entered another phase, with the government announcing the commencement of land preparation for a new 400-bed Mother and Child Block initiated by the previous administration.
Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, announced the development on Monday, September 21, 2026, describing it as part of President John Dramani Mahama’s investment in major health infrastructure.
“President Mahama is back with investments in major, world-class health infrastructure,” Kwakye Ofosu wrote in a Facebook post announcing the project.
The proposed facility is expected to replace the existing maternity unit at Korle Bu and provide a comprehensive centre for specialised maternal and child healthcare. The plans include dedicated Obstetrics and Gynaecology wards, labour and delivery suites, operating theatres and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
The facility is also expected to contain a High Dependency Unit, Intensive Care Unit, an IVF and Assisted Reproductive Technology Centre, antenatal and postnatal clinics, fertility and reproductive health services and an Emergency Obstetric Care Unit.
Additional components are expected to include diagnostic imaging, laboratory and blood bank services, a pharmacy, a Central Sterile Services Department, physiotherapy and rehabilitation facilities, breastfeeding and family-planning units.
The project is also designed to serve an academic function. According to the government, teaching, research and conference facilities will be incorporated to support medical training and research at Korle Bu.
However, the latest announcement comes with a significant history.
The proposal for a new 400-bed maternity facility at Korle Bu is not a new project. On August 11, 2020, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction and equipping of a 12-storey, 400-bed Maternity and Gynaecological Centre at the hospital, alongside a separate 101-bed Urology and Nephrology Centre.
The 2020 project followed Akufo-Addo’s December 2018 visit to Korle Bu, during which he expressed concern about the condition of the existing maternity block and pledged to replace it. At the sod-cutting ceremony, he said the building was no longer fit for purpose.
The previous project was backed by a reported €145.22 million financing arrangement through Standard Chartered Bank, with an export credit guarantee from Swedish Export Credit.
The proposed 400-bed facility was to include 20 labour-delivery rooms, seven theatres, 24 consulting rooms, 26 recovery wards, 18 treatment rooms, IVF services and an emergency unit with its own triage and operating theatre.
The Ministry of Health subsequently acknowledged that construction of the 400-bed Maternity and Gynaecological Centre had been initiated under the Akufo-Addo administration but had been brought to a halt because of resource constraints.
The history means the September 2026 announcement represents a renewed attempt to address the same longstanding infrastructure challenge at Ghana’s premier referral hospital.
Korle Bu, established in 1923, has grown from an initial 200-bed hospital into a major national referral and teaching institution with a reported 2,000-bed capacity.
It handles patients referred from across Ghana and neighbouring West African countries and provides highly specialised services including cardiothoracic care, oncology, renal services, neurosurgery and reconstructive surgery.
The pressure on its maternal and child health infrastructure therefore has implications beyond the hospital itself, given its national referral role.
