Ada MP inaugurates children’s ward

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) member of Parliament (MP) for the Ada Constituency in the Ada East District of the Greater Accra Region, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe, has inaugurated a children’s ward for the Ada District Hospital at Faithkope near Kasseh.

 The 100-bed children’s ward has an emergency ward, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), two general wards, nurses’ administrative offices and two general wards, in addition to a playground for the children.

When in full operation, the children’s ward will not only serve children from the Ada East District but also other sister districts such as the Ada West District, Ningo-Prampram, part of Tema, Sogakope and Battor, among others for referrals. 

Support

At the inauguration of the ward last Sunday, Ms Cudjoe, the initiator of the project, expressed her appreciation to the management of the hospital for their moral support when she came up with the idea for the children’s ward at the Ada East District Hospital.

Front view of the inaugurated children’s ward

She said after she became the MP for the area, she realised that there was no proper children’s ward at the hospital, which was a worry to her as a mother.

“As a mother, anytime I visited the hospital and saw the small space that was named as a children’s ward, I felt very bad and pitied my colleague women who were with their children.

“I then asked myself as a mother, what could I do to help the situation? That was the genesis of my children’s ward project that you are seeing now,” she narrated.

She explained further that the worst aspect of the situation that prompted the project was the fact that the children were mixed up with the adults in the wards, which was not a healthy practice as far as quality healthcare was concerned.

The Medical Officer in Charge of the children’s ward, Dr Emmanuel Odonkor, was full of gratitude to Ms Cudjoe for the facility, which he stated would go a long way to address children’s healthcare needs and treatment anytime they were admitted.

He said the population of children up to 17 years in the district who needed to be taken care of was 34,000. However, the facilities were not there to serve them.

“It was quite a difficult task looking at the facility at our disposal before the MP’s intervention,” he added. 

He said the most difficult aspect of the situation was that the children were all scattered in the wards and it was a big task moving from one ward to the other, instead of being at one place like the one constructed by the MP. He said when it happened that way, he became tired and it affected his work output.        

He said as a paediatrician, he was trained to give good healthcare to children. However, when the facilities were not there or available, it made the work for him and other paediatricians more challenging, assuring that with the intervention of the MP, the situation was going to change for the better.

“This is a good opportunity for us as paediatricians and all other health workers to take good care of the children whenever they are admitted,” he stated. 

More staff needed

He said with the new development, the management of the hospital would contact the Greater Accra Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service to beef up the staff for effective treatment of children when admitted, as more referral cases would come from the sister health facilities that would be patronising the children’s ward at the Ada East District Hospital.

Earlier, the Hospital Administrator, Mamud Braimah, in his welcome remarks, described the inaugurated children’s ward as a “signature project” not only for the MP but for the people of the district, which would go a long way to promote quality children's health care.

The Medical Superintendent of the Ada East District Hospital, Dr Philip Narh, who chaired the programme, pledged the administration’s commitment to take good care of the facility.