By Albert Futukpor
Walewale (NE/R), Jan 16, GNA – The newly constructed and inaugurated Catholic Orthopedic Training Centre (OTC) at Walewale remain closed to the public because the machines, tools and materials to use to treat patients at the facility have remained locked up at the port.
The machines, tools and materials for the OTC at Walewale, which is a branch of the OTC at Nsawam near Accra, were a donation from a Swiss Family Foundation, and the container arrived at the Tema Port on December 31, last year.
The OTC at Walewale is to treat people with physical disabilities including children with club feet and bowlegs, amongst others in the north to walk, as well as manufacture prosthetic legs and arms, shoes, leg braces, splints, clutches and others that a physically disabled person needs to walk.
Sister Elizabeth Newman, Managing Director, OTC Nsawam, speaking during the inauguration of the OTC at Walewale in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region, said her outfit had applied for exemption from taxes for the items in the container prior to its arrival at the port.
Sister Newman expressed disappointment at the situation and appealed to leaders and politicians from the north to help facilitate the clearance of the container on time to help the facility to start work to bring relief to persons with physical disabilities in the north.
The OTC at Nsawam serves people with physical disabilities across the country but financial challenges to embark on the trip to Nsawam prevent some people from accessing treatment hence the establishment of the OTC at Walewale to cater for patients from the northern parts of the country.
Father Cyprian Kuupol, Provincial Superior, Divine Word Ministries, Ghana – Liberia Province, said the establishment of the OTC at Walewale was an answered prayer for patients from Tamale, Wa, Bolgatanga, Nakpanduri, Nalerigu, Bunkpurugu and beyond, who previously would have had to commute to Nsawam or meet OTC mobile units at established stations in the quest to access health care.
He said: “The extra financial burden incurred in terms of transportation and accommodation to access OTC services has been lifted off the shoulders of the people.”
Mr Arimiyaw Somo Lucky Basintale, West Mamprusi Municipal Chief Executive, who spoke on behalf of the North East Regional Minister during the inauguration of the facility, promised to send a message to the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, who is also Member of Parliament for Walewale, about the situation to intervene.
He commended partners for establishing the facility in the area, saying, it would transform and support health care delivery in the Municipality, and the region.
The traditional authorities of the area praised partners for siting the facility in the area to address the health needs of their people as well as create other opportunities for them.
Meanwhile, the ceremony was also used to mark the Feast Day of Saint Arnold Janssen, who is Founder of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit as well as the 10th anniversary of the demise of Brother Tarcisius Cristophorus de Ruyter, SVD, Founder of OTC at Nsawam.
GNA