The Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), otherwise known as Ridge Hospital, is planning towards making the facility a medical tourism destination.

The operationalisation of this dream will enable the facility to enhance the reception of foreign patients to avail themselves of the many services now available there. The hospital is already hosting patients from foreign countries, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Emmanuel Koblah Srofenyoh, told editors last Wednesday during a pre-launch media soiree for the facility’s fifth milestone at Alisa Hotel in Accra.

The engagement with the media forms part of a series of activities to commemorate the fifth year anniversary of the ultramodern facility which is due next year.

The European Hospital, as it was then called, was established in 1928 to cater for the health needs of colonial officials in the then Gold Coast.

Since independence however, it has witnessed transformation into a district hospital and now a regional hospital.

Speaking about the major transformation the facility has undergone, the director said that it is now a leading referral location.

The 420-bed facility, he said, operationalised its modernisation process in 2017 and now provides cutting-edge services in various departments of medicine.

One of the innovations being offered by the facility, according to him, is the Corporate Fast Track Services for those who demand them because of the nature of their occupations.

Continuing to dangle the new features of the modern facility, Dr. Srofenyoh said the hospital now has pediatric oncology department and a bone marrow transplantation centre to cater for sickle cell anaemic kids.

The family and wellness centre would provide services for those who would like to come for periodic checkups, he said.

Today, he said gleefully that the GARH is the only regional hospital with a tertiary credential.

The GARH was accorded the tertiary status by a respectable body responsible for such elevations, HeFRA.

In the area of research and training, the hospital, he explained, has been accredited for post-graduate programmes in obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, and pediatrics among others.

The additional modern laboratories at the facility have put it in a better stead to serve its patients.

Of significance also, he went on, is the public private partnership (PPP) operated dialysis centre operating at the facility.

A public lecture was delivered yesterday at the conference hall of the Ministry of Health’s Conference Hall under the theme, ‘Quality Healthcare Delivery: The Role of a Modern Public Health Facility,’ to launch the programmes to precede next year’s climax.