KATH Records 30% Half-Year Maternal Mortality Decline in 10 Years
The Maternity Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region has recorded a half-year reduction in institutional maternal deaths for the first time in 10 years in its operations.
The facility, which provides services to patients across 12 regions, recorded 55 maternal deaths between January and June this year, as against 78 maternal deaths within the same period in 2025, representing a decline of 30 per cent.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the hospital, Dr (Med) Paa Kwesi Baidoo, who disclosed this, attributed the success to strategic plans to improve the health delivery service in that unit.
Addressing the 2026 mid-year performance review conference of the hospital, Dr (Med) Baidoo stated that the achievement came at a cost, as within the period under review, they strategically operationalised the maternal intensive care unit with support from anaesthesia and intensive care professionals.
“It is supposed to be an eight-bed ICU, but we are currently working with four, and we are hoping that by the end of the year, the other four will be added as well.
We believe that this will further reduce our maternal mortality rates,” he stressed.
He mentioned that the hospital had also strengthened its engagements with the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service with the objective of carrying out a sustained clinical mentorship and capacity-building outreach programme to peripheral facilities.
The ultimate objective of this endeavour, he stressed, was to improve clinical care and quality of referrals from the peripheral hospitals in the region and beyond, especially in the area of maternal care.
He added that the facility always had the highest maternal mortality in the country because of its location and the number of referrals beyond the region it received, and not because the hospital did not provide quality care.
Dr Baidoo further mentioned the completion of works on the hospital’s Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) centre to pave the way for its full operationalisation in the course of this month.
“By this feat, KATH has emerged as the first public health facility to boast of a specialist fertility centre in the country to provide the needed services to persons in need of such medical assistance,” the CEO stated.
Also, Dr Baidoo said the hospital’s main dialysis centre, which had been undergoing total refurbishment for some time, had been reopened to allow for expanded access to specialist dialysis services to the public.
“The centre currently has about 13 dialysis machines functioning with the rest stationed at the Accident and Emergency centre,” he added.
The Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Fred Adomako-Boateng, said in 2024 and 2025, the region recorded 195 and 197 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, representing 25 per cent of the entire national figures.
He underscored the need for all stakeholders to come together to address the issue holistically to prevent women from losing their lives through childbirth, stressing “if the trend continues, then there will be a reduction at the end of the year”.
Source: Graphic
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