Prisons Service needs centralised hospital
The Chairman of the Ghana Prisons Service Council (PSC) board, Rev. Dr Stephen Wengham, has called for the establishment of a national prison hospital to cater for the health needs of inmates.
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He said the few infirmaries in the prisons were substandard and lacked the required drugs to cater for communicable diseases and other health complications that resulted from the congestions in the prisons.
“The drawings are ready for the construction of the first modern hospital to cater for the health of inmates. The healthcare facilities in the prisons are so deplorable. There are no drugs in the few infirmaries and the inmates contribute to buy drugs. Those who cannot afford die of very common diseases,” he said.
Health risks
Rev. Wengham, who made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the failure to provide an effective healthcare system for inmates and officers of the service was a health risk and security threat to the country.
“The prison officers relate with the inmates daily and also share public transport with other people. The likelihood that they would contract communicable diseases from the inmates is great. If we do not establish a modern hospital to care for them, the whole country will be at risk,” he said.
Project Efiase
He explained that the initiative to establish a hospital was part of “Project Efiase”, a 10-year development plan by the PSC aimed at transforming prison conditions.
It would be recalled that the sixth PSC board launched “Project Efiase,” an initiative to solicit financial support from the public, to improve on the conditions in the 43 prisons in the country. This is to ensure that people who are reintegrated into society after they serve their term in prison do not become a health threat to society.
Nsawam Prison
The Eastern Regional Commander of the GPS and Officer in charge (OIC) of the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, Deputy Director of Prisons, Mr Isaac K. Egyir, told the Daily Graphic during a visit to the facility that health care for the prison family was an issue of great concern.
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He said about 95 per cent of the inmates in the facility had been registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), but the lack of drugs at the infirmary made it difficult for them to benefit fully from the scheme.
“We continue to transport patients to the Nsawam Government Hospital and other hospitals in Accra for medical attention. The associated risk is that it worsens the conditions of the patients and puts the public at risk of contracting those diseases,” he said.
Mr Egyir lauded the effort by the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, at supporting the prison with assorted medical consumables to improve upon healthcare delivery and called on other individuals and organisations to support the idea of establishing a hospital to facilitate health care for prisoners.