President John Dramani Mahama has inspected construction work on a new cardiology centre at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), describing the facility as the first of its kind in the Savannah zone and a critical step toward equitable specialist healthcare in northern Ghana.
The state-of-the-art facility is being developed as a specialised centre for cardiovascular disease treatment, and when completed it will bring together cardiologists and advanced medical technology to deliver a full spectrum of care, including angioplasty and pacemaker implantation.
The President explained that the project was triggered by the death of a doctor in Kumasi who needed urgent angioplasty but could not access a functioning cardiac catheterisation laboratory (CATLAB). The one in Kumasi was broken down at the time, while the facility in Accra had been destroyed in a fire incident and was out of service. “So unfortunately, he died,” he said, describing the sequence of events that led to the government’s decision to procure additional CATLAB equipment for major hospitals.
Having initially planned to procure facilities for Accra and Kumasi, the government decided to include Tamale to ensure geographical coverage across the country. However, upon arrival of the equipment, it became clear that Tamale needed a full cardiology centre to support the CATLAB. “When the one for Tamale was brought, we realised that it didn’t have all the supporting services to be able to make it functional,” the President explained.
Each of the three centres under construction across Accra, Kumasi and Tamale will be equipped with modern catheterisation laboratories, operating theatres, Intensive Care Units (ICUs), consulting rooms, pharmacies and dedicated oxygen plants.
President Mahama expressed satisfaction with the pace of construction, indicating that the Tamale facility could be completed and operational by next year once equipment installation is finalised. He commended the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF), popularly known as the Mahama Cares initiative, for supporting the project.
The President noted that the centre will significantly reduce the burden on patients across the five northern regions, and is expected to also serve patients from neighbouring countries who currently travel long distances to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi for specialised cardiac procedures.
Beyond the cardiology centre, President Mahama used the visit to call on the Ministry of Health to begin planning for a cancer treatment centre in Tamale. He argued that northern Ghana patients should no longer have to travel to the south for radiotherapy and other cancer services, stressing the need to develop full specialist capacity in the region.
The inspection formed part of President Mahama’s ongoing Resetting Ghana Tour of the Northern Region.
