Plan International Ghana has commissioned a modern health facility for Kwamoso community in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern region.
The facility is to replace a “stressed out” Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPs) compound struggling to deliver basic healthcare to the inhabitants of the aforementioned community who are predominantly peasant farmers due to logistical challenges.
Owing to the debilitating condition of the CHPs compound, many patients from the community were frequently referred to Tetteh Quarshie hospital and other facilities for treatment.
The situation, according to residents who spoke to Starr News, has led to loss of many lives.
“The old facility didn’t have anything so we were always referred, and sometimes people die on their way…even if you are pregnant there are some basic things you won’t get here,” the residents told Starr News Eastern Region Correspondent Kojo Ansah.
With the commissioning of the GH¢310,000 new facility supported financially by a Japanese philanthropist, Yoshida residents could heave a sigh of relief.
The facility is fitted with seven water closets and six bathrooms. It is also furnished with 30 metallic seats for the Out Patient Department (OPD), two executive desks, and four chairs for the consulting room, a delivery bed, three baby cots, four children beds and a refrigerator is envisaged to improve primary healthcare delivery and reduce the frequent referrals.
But the Midwife in Charge Mrs. Bossman Osei bemoaned that despite the improved facility furnished with logistics, inadequate staff still remains a challenge. She said at least a Physician Assistant and other staff nurses are needed to help handle cases that come at the facility and extend service delivery to 24 hours.
According to her, currently the facility has only one midwife, a staff Nurse and three community nurses taking care of a population of over 15,000 at Kwamoso and other surrounding villages.
Unfortunately, these nurses lack accommodation in the community hence commute every day.
Nana Dwumazi -Chief for the Ewe Community at Kwamoso told Starr News government and philanthropists must come to the aid of the community to help build bungalows for the health workers to enable them work all day and night to help save lives.
“Because the nurses do not stay in this community they don’t work in the evening, so if someone suddenly fall sick we find ourselves wanting, so we are appealing to philanthropists and government to help us build a bungalow for the nurses.”
Averagely nine pregnant women die every month in the Eastern Region, according to the Regional Health Directorate.
A total of 108 institutional maternal deaths were recorded in 2017 in the region higher than the 104 and 102 cases recorded in 2016 and 2015 respectively.
The Eastern Regional Manager of Plan International Ghana, Kofi Adade Debrah described the situation as unacceptable but expressed hope that the availability of such health facility will help reduce maternal and infant mortality to zero.
“All of us are worried and are of the view that, no woman should go to the maternity ward to die, we want to achieve zero maternal and under five year mortality, so with that objective, this facility is one of the interventions,” he said.
The acting Country Director of Plan International Ghana Assum -Kwarteng Ahensan said the new health facility is expected to be granted Health center status which would help attend to accident cases on the Mamfe to Koforidua highways.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
