Prez Akufo Addo commissions 160-bed Upper West Regional Hospital

By
Prosper K. Kuorsoh, GNA

Wa, Aug. 18, GNA –
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has commissioned the 160-bed capacity
Upper West Regional Hospital for the public to begin accessing healthcare
services.

Construction of the
US$52 million facility, which started in 2014, was financed by Euroget-De
Invest, an Egyptian company.

Commissioning the
project, President Akufo Addo acknowledged the importance of project continuity
as this was the reason why Ghana is an attractive destination for investors.

He commended
successive governments and the contractor for their various roles in bringing
the hospital project to completion.

President Akufo
Addo, however, expressed worry that the project which was initiated in 2008
with constructional works starting in 2014 had indeed delayed and that it was
important that they work to ensure that projects were delivered within
schedule.

The President said
with the right commitment and support, it was possible to have quality local
contractors to deliver quality work on time for the country.

He called on the
public to build a good maintenance culture to enable the facility to serve its
intended purpose.

Mr Kwaku Agyemeng-Manu,
the Minister of Health, said the hospital was designed with several departments
including an administration, Out Patient Department, physiotherapy unit,
radiology laboratory, medical justice production unit, maternal and children’s
health unit, mortuary, staff dining, maintenance department, power station and
20 staff housing unit.

He said the hospital
was also equipped with modern medical equipment including X-Ray machines, CT
Scan, ultrasound and fully equipped operation theatre among others.

Other components, he
said, are information and communication management technology, training, and
installation of CCT cameras to enhance security at the facility.

Mr Agyemang-Manu
said the biggest challenge facing the Health Ministry was the maintenance of
its hospital facilities, adding that medical equipment often breakdown quickly
after their maintenance agreement had elapsed.

He expressed the
hope that the challenge would not occur as far as management of the hospital
was concerned.

The Health Minister
appealed to the management of VRA/NEDCO to take a critical look at the power
situation at the hospital and resolve the short space power outages that was
being experienced in other hospitals to ensure effective health care delivery.

“A lot of investment
has gone into this project and we need to prevent the equipment against
damages”, he said.

Dr Hafiz Bin Salih,
Upper West Regional Minister, said the commissioning of the 160-bed capacity
hospital will further enhance quality health care delivery in the region.

“As a referral
hospital in the region it was expected that staff would be professional in the
discharge of their duties”, he said.

The Regional
Minister said the region’s doctor to patient ratio had improved from 1:15,304
in 2017 to 1:14,310 in 2018 according to the Regional Health Directorate.

Additionally, he
said, the nurses and midwife’s population ratio has equally improved in the
region but compared to the national ratio, the region still needed more health
staff.

Dr Bin Salih said
currently, the region had 58 medical doctors, 959 staff nurses, 1.813 enrolled
nurses, 728 community health nurses and 660 staff midwives manning the various
health facilities in the region.

He said this was
inadequate to meet the health needs of the people and appealed to the Ministry
of Health to post more critical health staff to the region to improve on the
staffing situation.

GNA