Akwamufie Community Clinic crumbles
A health facility which is supposed to cater for the people of Akwamufie and its surrounding towns on the banks of the Volta River has been abandoned, forcing members of the community to cross the river to other nearby towns when they are in dire need of medical attention.
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Currently, the dilapidated facility is at the mercy of weeds and wildlife, including dangerous reptiles, while some natives use part of it as a place of convenience or sleeping quarters.
Unfortunately, while some medical personnel in other towns and villages are in dire need of accommodation, this facility has additional accommodation for a resident doctor, midwives, nurses and an administrator.
Yet, all these residential facilities, together with the outpatient department, delivery ward, and various rooms have been left to go waste.
In an interview with the Osomanyawa Queen Mother of the Akwamu Traditional Area, Nana Hemaa Asaa Safoa, she lamented that it is heart-breaking to see such an extensive facility wasting away by the day while her people suffer for medical attention.
According to her, the facility was built in the late sixties during the Busia regime. However, for a long while, no qualified doctors or qualified nurses have been posted there.
“When the hospital was vibrant, people from Adomi, Akwuamufie and its surrounding towns all used to go there for their healthcare needs. Now with the closure of the Adomi Bridge, they have to cross the river to Akosombo when they are sick,” she stated.
She disclosed that because there are no qualified doctors or nurses, even the drugs and mosquito nets that are sent there have all been left on the floor to go waste, mostly serving as fodder for colonies of vermin.
“Currently, it is some community health nurses who sometimes pass through the facility and they can only administer drugs such as painkillers. Therefore, when women are in labour it becomes a matter of life and death as they need to cross over to Akosombo or other places to be delivered of their babies,” she stated.
The Queen Mother mentioned that she had brought the current situation to the attention of the District Chief Executive (DCE) and she expressed the need to raise some funds to get the facility rehabilitated “so that we get it back to reduce the suffering of both the young and older folk of the community.”
To ascertain why the hospital had been left in its current state, The Mirror spoke with the DCE, Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, and he confirmed the state of the facility.
He, however, explained that he had discussed the situation with the medical director of the area and so in the coming weeks doctors and nurses would be posted to the place.
The big question remains whether the medical personnel who would be posted there in the coming weeks would be able to work under such deplorable conditions.