First infectious disease isolation centre inaugurated in Accra
The first of five multi-purpose infectious disease isolation centres for the Greater Accra Region has been inaugurated at the La General Hospital in Accra.
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The other four, which are at various stages of completion, are at the Maamobi, Korle Bu and Adabraka polyclinics and the Ga South Hospital.
Funded by the government at a total cost of GH¢750,000, the facilities are to serve as isolation wards for cholera and other infectious diseases.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, who inaugurated the centre at the La General Hospital, said the government was working at ensuring that the deadly cholera outbreak which hit most parts of the country in 2014 did not recur.
Danish support
He said the Danish government had also assisted the government with $1 million in the event of a recurrence of an outbreak in the country.
The money is to support different forms of intervention, such as surveillance, treatment and the construction of isolation wards.
Dr Bampoe said the government was working at addressing the remote causes of cholera to ensure that no death was recorded during the rainy season.
He said the government would give a facelift to some health facilities, including the La General Hospital and the Maamobi Polyclinic, as well as build a new hospital in Dambai and another in the Central Region to help promote health care among the people.
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Timely measures needed
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Tove Degnbol, commended the government for putting in place measures to ensure that cholera became a thing of the past.
She said inadequate treatment centres were a major challenge in 2014 and expressed the hope that the establishment of the five centres would help in the prompt treatment of cases as they occurred.
She called on the authorities to look at street food vendoring and the contamination of water sources, which, she said, were the major causes of the spread of cholera in the Greater Accra Region in 2014.
The Director of the Institutional Care Department (ICD), Dr Samuel Kaba, said cholera should not be treated as a health issue alone but be seen as a social issue which cut across sectors such as local government, water and sanitation.
He said since 2014 when the country experienced the severe cholera outbreak which claimed over 200 lives, there had been a lot of improvement in ensuring that the disease was kept at bay.
He said cholera should not be an issue in the 21st century and, therefore, called on all to ensure that it was brought under control or eliminated.
The Director of the La General Hospital, Dr Ebenezer Oduro-Mensah, gave an assurance that the facility would be put to good use.
He appealed to corporate Ghana and other stakeholders to help give a facelift to the Antenatal Clinic at the hospital, since it was in a bad shape.
Writer's email-rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh