First Lady inaugurates renovated Anyima Health Centre in Bono East
The Lordina Foundation has renovated and inaugurated the Anyima Health Centre in the Kintampo South District in the Bono East Region.
The facility, which was fully renovated and equipped by the Lordina Foundation, is set to serve over 3,000 people from Anyima and the neighbouring communities of Amoma, Apesika, Jema and Kranbenko.
This brings to six the total number of medical facilities the foundation, founded by the First Lady, Lordina Dramani Mahama, has either built or renovated across the country.
Well-equipped facility
The renovated Anyima Health Centre now boasts of an Out-Patient Department (OPD), consulting room, examination room, delivery room, labour ward, children's ward and male and female wards.
Additional facilities include an adolescent centre, laboratory, dispensary, offices for nurses and midwives and an emergency room.
The Lordina Foundation has provided essential medical equipment, including new beds and mattresses, an electric obstetric bed, an infant incubator, an infant phototherapy unit, an ultrasound system, a digital electrocardiogram (ECG), oxygen equipment, delivery sets, patient monitoring devices and essential neonatal care equipment.
Access to maternal, infant health
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony over the weekend, Mrs Mahama mentioned the health facilities either built from scratch or renovated to include four new maternity and children's wards at Bole, Nkoranza South, Bodom in Nkoranza North and Asukawkaw, as well as the renovated and expanded Adabraka Health Centre at Hohoe Zongo.
She expressed joy at being able to contribute to the development of her hometown area, revealing her personal connection to the community.
"As many of you may be aware, Jema-Ampoma, which is nearby, is where my late mother, Abena Gyamfua, comes from. But beyond my personal ties to this project, we at the Lordina Foundation, believe that every Ghanaian community deserves access to quality health care, especially for maternal and infant health," she said.
The First Lady commended the Anyimahemaa, Saa Gyamfuaa II, for her passion and advocacy, which encouraged the Foundation to undertake the project.
Worrying statistics
Mrs Dramani Mahama drew attention to Ghana's worrying maternal and infant mortality statistics, noting that the country's maternal mortality rate stands at nearly 300 deaths per 100,000 live births, while infant mortality is reported at about 32 deaths per 1,000 live births.
"Behind these numbers are mothers, daughters, sisters and precious children whose lives could be saved with timely access to quality health care facilities and skilled birth attendants. Many of these are preventable.
"My dear brothers and sisters, my children and Nananom, the buildings the Lordina Foundation is constructing are not merely structures; they are lifesavers," the First Lady said.
Free Primary Health Care programme
Mrs Mahama announced that President John Dramani Mahama, would soon launch a Primary Health Care Programme, which would provide free care at facilities such as the Anyima Health Centre.
She indicated that the programme's expected outcomes included increased health care utilisation, early disease detection, reduced health expenditure for families and a healthier, more productive nation.
Mrs Mahama also called on the community to take full ownership of the centre and keep it in good condition, while appealing to traditional authorities to keep watch over the facility to ensure it continues to meet the people's health needs for years to come.
