AFRICAN Turning Point Foundation (ATPF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), with support from Kimoyo Limited of the United States of America, is assisting the people of the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region to construct a modern hospital to meet their health needs.
The facility, known as the N'aaba Akparabilla Medical Centre, is to offer quality health care to the people of Zebilla and its surrounding communities.
Bawku West, one of the nine districts in the Upper East Region, was created out of the old Bawku East District in 1988. Zebilla is the district capital. Bawku West District shares boundaries with Burkina Faso to the north, Talensi-Nabdam District to the west and Bawku Municipal Assembly to the east.
The district covers a land area of approximately 979 square kilometres, constituting about 12 per cent of the total area of the region.
According to the 2000 population and housing census, the district has a population of approximately 80,606. One of the major challenges of the district is the limited number of enough health care facilities.
Currently, there are two health care centres in the Bawku West District, which are located in Binaba and Zebilla.
Though the government has subsidised health care cost through the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), there are a few challenges. Only a few beds are available for doctors to detain and observe patients at the health facilities.
At the moment the district hospital has only one doctor attending to an average of 20,000 persons. For that reason, critical cases are transferred to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital by ambulance services.
It is to augment the services that the ATPF established the health centre to improve the health care needs of the people. Services provided at the centre include ultrasound tests, which were hitherto not done in the district; consultation, dispensary and laboratory.
The Medical Director at the centre, Dr Celia Yamile Rodriguez, told this writer during a tour of the facility that the project would enhance the health needs of the people and improve the standard of living in the area.
"Our vision is to offer quality health care to the people of Zebilla," she said, adding that in the near future, measures would be taken to transform the facility into a centre of excellence in health care delivery.
She said ATPF was founded on April 24, 2004 with the support of their partner organisation in the United States of America, Kimoyo Limited.
Dr Rodriguez said since its establishment in May, 2008, the centre had recorded a steady increase in patients patronising the facility, adding that from an initial figure of 37 patients in May, this year, attendance had risen to 111 as of the end of September, this year.
She stated that the centre was working hard to receive approval from the Ghana Health Insurance Authority to operate the National health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in order to make the facility’s services accessible to more people.
Dr Rodriguez said apart from securing the people's health needs in the district, the centre also served as a source of job generation as some of the indigenes including, three nurses, three ward aids, a dispensary officer, laboratory assistants, two security men and a driver had been engaged to work at the centre.
She pledged the centre's commitment to the improvement of health services in the district, saying it would do everything possible to improve the health status of the people.
The ATPF Project Manager, Jenna Maclellan, for her part said in addition to the medical centre, ATPF had set up other community projects, including a micro-finance project for women, an agricultural project, a school as well as an Internet Café.
According to her, ATPF was working towards a number of grass-roots poverty alleviation projects not only in the Bawku West District, but the whole of the Upper East Region.
The facility, known as the N'aaba Akparabilla Medical Centre, is to offer quality health care to the people of Zebilla and its surrounding communities.
Bawku West, one of the nine districts in the Upper East Region, was created out of the old Bawku East District in 1988. Zebilla is the district capital. Bawku West District shares boundaries with Burkina Faso to the north, Talensi-Nabdam District to the west and Bawku Municipal Assembly to the east.
The district covers a land area of approximately 979 square kilometres, constituting about 12 per cent of the total area of the region.
According to the 2000 population and housing census, the district has a population of approximately 80,606. One of the major challenges of the district is the limited number of enough health care facilities.
Currently, there are two health care centres in the Bawku West District, which are located in Binaba and Zebilla.
Though the government has subsidised health care cost through the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), there are a few challenges. Only a few beds are available for doctors to detain and observe patients at the health facilities.
At the moment the district hospital has only one doctor attending to an average of 20,000 persons. For that reason, critical cases are transferred to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital by ambulance services.
It is to augment the services that the ATPF established the health centre to improve the health care needs of the people. Services provided at the centre include ultrasound tests, which were hitherto not done in the district; consultation, dispensary and laboratory.
The Medical Director at the centre, Dr Celia Yamile Rodriguez, told this writer during a tour of the facility that the project would enhance the health needs of the people and improve the standard of living in the area.
"Our vision is to offer quality health care to the people of Zebilla," she said, adding that in the near future, measures would be taken to transform the facility into a centre of excellence in health care delivery.
She said ATPF was founded on April 24, 2004 with the support of their partner organisation in the United States of America, Kimoyo Limited.
Dr Rodriguez said since its establishment in May, 2008, the centre had recorded a steady increase in patients patronising the facility, adding that from an initial figure of 37 patients in May, this year, attendance had risen to 111 as of the end of September, this year.
She stated that the centre was working hard to receive approval from the Ghana Health Insurance Authority to operate the National health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in order to make the facility’s services accessible to more people.
Dr Rodriguez said apart from securing the people's health needs in the district, the centre also served as a source of job generation as some of the indigenes including, three nurses, three ward aids, a dispensary officer, laboratory assistants, two security men and a driver had been engaged to work at the centre.
She pledged the centre's commitment to the improvement of health services in the district, saying it would do everything possible to improve the health status of the people.
The ATPF Project Manager, Jenna Maclellan, for her part said in addition to the medical centre, ATPF had set up other community projects, including a micro-finance project for women, an agricultural project, a school as well as an Internet Café.
According to her, ATPF was working towards a number of grass-roots poverty alleviation projects not only in the Bawku West District, but the whole of the Upper East Region.
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