NAVRONGO HOSPITAL APPEALS FOR RESOURCES (PAGE 40)

THE Medical Superintendent of the Navrongo War Memorial Hospital, Dr William Gudu, has appealed to the Government and other stakeholders to help the hospital with resources to enable it to provide quality health care to the public.
He said the facility, which served the people of Kassena-Nankana East and Kassena-Nankana West districts, lacked such modern facilities as laboratory and operating theatre.
According to him, inadequate supply of water and erratic electricity power supply had seriously affected health care at the hospital.
Dr Gudu made the appeal when the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, toured the facility to familiarise himself with some of the challenges facing the hospital, with a view to finding solutions to the problems.
The visit to the hospital coincided with the inauguration of the mortuary facility which broke down five years ago. The mortuary was rehabilitated at a conservative cost of GH¢9,000 from the hospital’s internally generated funds.
According to the regional minister, prior to the rehabilitation of the facility, families from the two districts who relied on it had to travel to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital to preserve dead bodies.
He tasked the management of the hospital to enter into maintenance agreements with the repairers of the mortuary to service it at regular intervals.
Briefing the regional minister on the challenges of the hospital, the medical superintendent said the hospital, which was established in the colonial era, lacked modern toilet facilities and patients had no option but to stick to KVIPs outside the hospital.
He also expressed concern about inadequate beds and dilapidated physical structures of the facility, and appealed to the Government for support.
Responding to the appeal, Mr Woyongo said the Government placed premium on the health of the people and would do all in its power to address the numerous challenges facing the hospital.
On the poor water supply to the facility, Mr Woyongo tasked the District Chief Executive for Kassena-Nankana East, Mr Emmanuel Andema, to liaise with the Ghana Water Company to ensure that water was pumped to the hospital’s overhead tanks, at least once a week, while efforts were made to address the problem permanently.
Mr Woyongo also promised to co-ordinate with the offices of the Volta River Authority (VRA) to examine the possibility of supplying the hospital with a separate transformer to curtail frequent power fluctuations.
On personnel, the regional minister promised to explore the possibility of partnering the Ministry of Health to put in place a package that would see to a team of specialist doctors conducting clinics at least once every month.
He gave the assurance that the necessary support would be provided for the success of the programme.
While commending the medical staff for their dedication to work, Mr Woyongo appealed to them not to embark on strikes.
“Already, our people are suffering and the health facilities are not the best. Our people cannot afford to travel outside to access health care, so please bear with us,” Mr Woyongo stressed.
He gave the assurance that the Government was very sensitive to the plight of health workers and would do all it could to meet their requests for better remuneration.
“Once the economic conditions improve, obviously, we will address the issues of salaries of every worker in this country,” Mr Woyongo stated.