By Austin Agyenim-Boateng & John Sam Arthur
Residents of Nsawkaw in the Tain District of the Bono Region are calling for the operationalization of the newly constructed Tain District Hospital located at Nsawkaw.
They said the old District Hospital is congested with some patients having to sleep on the floor, hence the need for the Ministry of Health to operationalize the facility to help ease the suffering of the people. We have our correspondent John Sam-Arthur standing by to update us on the situation at the Hospital.
The 60-bed capacity Tain District Hospital located in Nsawkaw, the Tain District Capital in the Bono region was constructed at a cost of $36.6 million. The facility has departments for Administration, Outpatient Department(OPD), Physiotherapy Unit and Pharmacy among others.
It is the second-largest hospital in the Bono region. However, the facility which was commissioned on November 6, 2020 has not been in operation. Residents of Nsawkaw say the situation is negatively affecting health care delivery.
“This hospital is not that spacious, some of the patients do not get access to bed when they are brought here. At the Children’s Hospital Ward, they sleep in pairs on the bed and sometimes, 3 people, and that is not advisable. The place is very congested. Sometimes, when the patients who need emergency or intensive care arrive, there are no beds to accommodate them, so the family of the patient’s go home for a mattress in order for them to be treated,” one resident stated.
“My wife is very sick, and was brought here yesterday. She has not been provided a bed to receive treatment. She has been sleeping on a bench for 3 days now. If the government has commissioned a new hospital for the community, we are pleading to the hospital officials to move in to work for us,” a male resident lamented.
The Member of Parliament for Tain Sulemana Adama said he has filed a Parliamentary question to the Health Minister on the way forward for the facility.
“I also went to the Minister himself to ask about the Tain District Hospital, he assured me that it will be operationalized very soon, but the facility is still not operational. When you go to the old facility, it is eye sore. I am appealing to the President, through the Minister of Health, to as a matter of urgency operationalize the Tain District Hospital,” the MP stated.
When reached for comment, the Bono Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Amo-Kordie said, they are done with all the necessary arrangements to operate the facility with administrative workers already at post.
“We needed to train people, the doctors, nurses, and everybody that will be working there, to be able to handle the equipment that are new there, so that is what has been going on.”
“We also needed to assess even the equipment there, and in fact some of our people have moved in already. This is not going to be a hospital that is going to run on a normal paper work thing. It is going to be by ICT,” Dr. Amo-Kordie explained.
