![]() Gradually, the Public Mortuary fell into disrepair and eventually was closed down. Thus, by the 1950s, all medico-legal autopsy cases from the municipality and areas beyond were deposited in the Korle Bu mortuary and no longer in the accredited Public Mortuary which was then, under the care of Accra Municipal Council. These facilities were expanded to enable all types of autopsies to be performed on the Korle Bu premises. Korle Bu Hospital being the largest hospital in the country at the time, had at least, one pathologist and was equipped with a mortuary, as well as the facilities to perform autopsies, during the period of development of the laboratories. For more information on Medical Research and Laboratory Services in Ghana, the reader is referred to the Book by Addae 1. By 1952, complete re-organisation of the Laboratory in Accra, now an Institute, saw the separation into departments of Haematology, Chemical Pathology, Microbiology and Pathology. Part of their laboratory functions in hospitals, outside the main centres (Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi), were taken over by trained laboratory technicians and attendants. During the Depression of the 1930s and World War II, the number of pathologists in the Gold Coast declined steadily. The number of pathologists increased to about 8 in 1930, by which time clinical laboratories had been established in other hospitals in the country. The first full-time pathologist was appointed in 1914. Its main function was to undertake research into tropical diseases, but it also carried out routine diagnostic laboratory work, including autopsies, both hospital and medico-legal. It subsequently, underwent improvements, including relocation in the 1920s, to the newly constructed Korle Bu Hospital. The first health care laboratory in the then Gold Coast was the Accra Laboratory which was established around 1900. ![]() ![]() In the days of the colonial administration of the Gold Coast, as a result of non-availability of forensic doctors, hospital pathologists, and in some cases other medical officers, performed medico-legal autopsies for the Coroner. ![]() The state of affairs in Ghana may be partly blamed on an accident of history, the anomaly resulting from which has been allowed to become the norm. Pathology service in Ghana is still in its infancy due to inadequate personnel (Pathologists) and a poor perception of the role of the pathologist in health care delivery. ![]()
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