Two Upper East communities get health facilities
Healthcare delivery at Azorebisi in the Bolgatanga Municipality and Kongo in the Nabdam District, both in the Upper East Region, has received a boost.
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This follows the construction of a Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compound at Azorebisi at a cost of GH¢180,000 and an administration block costing GH¢100,000 for the Ayamfooya Memorial Clinic and Maternity at Kongo by the MTN Ghana Foundation.
The facilities were put up to support efforts aimed at reducing the spate of infant and maternal mortality in the communities, which are both deprived. With the facilities in place, residents, especially pregnant mothers, would no longer have to travel far to seek medical attention.
Facilities
The CHPS compound has a consulting room, antenatal and family planning section, delivery room, an Outpatient Department and a staff quarters. The facility, which is staffed with a midwife and two community health nurses, would serve about 5,351 residents within Azorebisi and its environs. The administration block of the Ayamfooya Memorial Clinic and Maternity is equipped with a photocopier and printing machine, air conditioners, refrigerators, ceiling fans and office furniture.
Inauguration
At two separate functions to formally dedicate the facilities, the Senior Manager, Corporate Communications of MTN, Mrs Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, said the MTN Foundation had over the years established 95 projects nationwide out of which 27 are located in the three northern regions in the country, all at a cost of GH¢15.5 million.
She entreated the communities to take good care of the facilities in order for it to have a long lifespan and serve the purpose for which they were donated.
The Midwife at the Azorebisi CHPS Compound, Madam Selina Azuure, expressed her gratitude to the foundation for the support. She said the presence of the health facility would serve to discourage residents from engaging in self-medication and over-reliance on herbal concoctions as answers to their health needs.
According to her, the facility would in addition bring solution to common diseases like respiratory tract infection and malaria, which are prevalent in the area.
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Madam Azuure urged other institutions to provide the people of Azorebisi with potable water and a night and day security personnel.
She said the centre would need clinical nurse, a record-keeping personnel and a cleaner to ensure effective service delivery.
The Bolgatanga Municipal Health Director, Dr Thomas Afful, pledged to find time to support staff of the CHPS centre.
He mentioned Sirigu and Nyariga as other deprived communities that needed support in the area of health and urged other public-spirited organisations to support the communities in that direction.
Dr Afful requested chiefs and opinion leaders in Azorebisi to assist in processing documents of the land on which the facility is situated in order to forestall any incidents of encroachment or litigation.
The Director of the Ayamfooya Memorial Clinic, Mr Thomas More, said outpatients’ attendance at the hospital had increased to over 3,000 patients a month from a previous low figure of 300 patients a month.
The Paramount Chief of Nangodi, Naaba Yelzooya II, called for urgent steps to be taken to have more health personnel in the area trained as a means of addressing the numerous health challenges the people of Kongo and its environs faced.