By Elorm Yao Aryee
The Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH) has made a significant contribution towards improving healthcare delivery in the Oti Region.
The organisation has invested significant funds and resources into renovation works and furnishing of health facilities in some deprived communities in the region.
The organisation provided a facelift for the dilapidated Likpe Polyclinic in the Guan District.
The facility originally constructed by Ghana’s First President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in 1965 as a polyclinic was downgraded due to its deteriorating state. KOFIH financed repairs of the structure and provided logistics, such as a hematology analyser, computers, fridge, beds, and lockers, among others.
It also sponsored the completion of a CHPS facility in Dzindziso in the Kadjebi District by providing about one million Ghana cedis to complete the structure, which was started by the former Member of Parliament for Akan, Joseph Kwadwo Ofori. Part of the funds was also used to equip the facility.
Through KOFIH’s intervention, residents, especially women in the riverine community of Chantai, can now heave a sigh of relief.
The organisation, with supervisory support from the Ghana Health Service, constructed a maternity block and staff quarters in the community.
This brings to an end the period of pregnant women traveling by tricycles for about 2 hours or over an hour by the river to deliver their babies in Kete Krachi.
The Deputy Country Director of KOFIH, Chae Eun Kim, said the completion of the Dzindziso Health Center represents an important milestone in efforts to provide quality healthcare to all Ghanaians.
She acknowledged the roles played by the various stakeholders which led to the success of the projects and expressed optimism that the facilities would meet the health demands of residents in the catchment areas.
“KOFIH has been working closely with the ORHD and we are committed to continuing the partnership for many years to come. We will do our part to ensure this collaboration becomes stronger and impactful,” she said.
She affirmed her outfit’s continued support for improving healthcare delivery across the country.
The Oti Regional Health Director, Dr. Osei Kuffuor Afreh, hinted at efforts to equip the Likpe Polyclinic with a fully-fledged theatre to augment care delivery. He underscored KOFIH’s significant contributions to improving healthcare in his jurisdiction by providing infrastructure, logistics, and human capacity-building programs for health staff.
“I would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to KOFIH for being the leading health partner in the Oti Region in terms of support for health service delivery,” he said.
He appealed to health staff to exhibit professionalism in the discharge of their duties following complaints of bad attitudes of staff towards patients at the various facilities in his jurisdiction.
The Director of the Institutional Care Division of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Ofori Boadu, applauded authorities and KOFIH on the spate of development in the health sector of the Oti Region.
He acknowledged the outstanding challenges of logistics and human resources and indicated that efforts are underway to “close the gap” to improve healthcare delivery.
“We believe KOFIH’s initiative is going to improve clinical services and service delivery in general,” he said.
Dr. Boadu added that the initiative by KOFIH conforms with the GHS’s “Network of Practice” activity, which is visioned to extend practice and care to the communities.
“So we are happy; we wish Oti Region all the best; we hope that they will keep on doing the best thing that they are doing and catch up with the rest of the regions,” he concluded.
Traditional authorities at Likpe, Dzindziso, and Chantai thanked KOFIH and the Ghana Health Service for the provision of the facilities and promised to ensure periodic maintenance to expand the life span of the infrastructure.
