Nandom District gets 9th CHPS Zone
The ninth Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Zone in the Nandom District in the Upper West Region has been inaugurated during a durbar of chiefs and people. It was built at a cost of about GH¢63,000.00 at Tom.
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The Nandom District Assembly funded the five-room project through its District Development Fund. Out of the nine CHPS compounds, five were constructed by the Assembly, including the Tom CHPS zone while the Catholic Relief Services and UNICEF have completed one each. The Ministry of Health and JICA have also completed two of such facilities at Bekyiiteng and Guri.
In his inaugural address, the Nandom District Chief Executive, Mr Cuthbert Kuupiel, gave an assurance that three more facilities would be completed soon, with the one at Nandomkpee commencing in August.
Mr Kuupiel bemoaned the situation where some pregnant women and children had to die due to their inability to reach a health facility in time due to bad roads and lack of means of transport and stressed the importance of the CHPS system in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in the areas of maternal and infant mortality by 2015.
The Nandom District Director of Health Services, Ms Genevieve Yiripare, expressed her regret about the situation where the Tankyara and Sonne CHPS compounds which were handed over to the health directorate in 2013 were not operational due to lack of basic equipment such as sphygmomanometers, stethoscopes, thermometers, delivery beds and furniture, thereby leading to their gradual deterioration.
She suggested that boreholes should be part of the construction of CHPS compounds, since access to potable water was difficult in the district, adding that currently, only two compounds had access to potable water with the remaining struggling for water to enhance healthcare delivery in the district.
She advised the people to see the facility, which would serve the other communities, including Vuurbaa and Domangye, as their own and maintain it.
Mr Theophilus Owusu-Ansah, a Deputy Director in charge of Clinical Care of the Ghana Health Services, stressed the need for the various district assemblies to provide accommodation for health personnel who would be posted to man the facilities in the region.
