Sandema (U/E), Feb. 19, GNA – Stakeholders in Sandema in the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region have appealed to the government and other benevolent organisations to assist the Sandema Hospital with an Emergency Block.
The current four-bed capacity ward, which serves as an Emergency Unit, according to the stakeholders, was inadequate and not strategically positioned to immediately attend to emergency cases.
The stakeholders, drawn from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Municipal Assembly, the traditional authority, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the National Health Insurance Authority and the Ghana Education Service, among others, made the appeal at the 2021 health performance review meeting of the Municipal Health Directorate.
They said the Hospital attended to cases within and outside the district including Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana West District, Yagaba in the North-East Region and some parts of the Upper West Region, noting that the Unit was not spacious enough to effectively care for critical emergency cases.
According to them, the management of the facility had over the period referred some emergency cases, which could be handled by the Hospital, due to the lack of space and equipment to manage such cases.
“In fact, the Emergency Unit of the Hospital is too small and does not befit the Hospital and the Municipality. It is not even properly equipped. If an entirely new block can be constructed, it will benefit us,” Mr Albert Atuga, one of the stakeholders, said.
He suggested that in the meantime, stakeholders and the people of Buluk could contribute to starting the construction of a new emergency block while they await support from Government and philanthropists.
When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the Emergency Unit of the Hospital owing to the request by the stakeholders, it observed that apart from the lack of space, the Unit had some broken louvre blades which exposed patients to cold weather, while basic equipment including Blood Pressure (BP) apparatus was shared with other wards.
Dr Emmanuel Opoku, the Acting Medical Superintendent of the Hospital told the GNA in an interview that “Our Emergency Unit is not ideal, it is very small, and patients cannot be moved straight from an ambulance to the Unit.”
He noted that time was very critical in dealing with any emergency cases and emphasized that the current location of the Unit was a disadvantage to the people of the area, “We will need a new emergency ward, in a vantage position to receive emergencies directly from any ambulance.”
Dr Opoku said the facility’s mortuary, which served the entire area, had no cold system and residents and people from nearby communities including Fumbisi and Chiana could not keep the bodies of their relatives unless they travelled to Navrongo or Bolgatanga.
He said the Hospital was the property of the people of Sandema, and called on sons and daughters in and outside the Municipality and Region to support the facility to enable it effectively to deliver on its mandate.
Commenting on the issue of Doctors refusing postings to the Region, the Acting Medical Superintendent described the people of the Upper East Region as “loving and hardworking,” and said that motivated him to stay and work in the Region.
Dr Opoku said even though they might not be some opportunities in the Upper East as compared to other Regions, other good things make life good.
He encouraged young colleague Doctors to accept postings and sacrifice to help the people in the Region.
GNA