By P.K.Yankey
Abura (W/R), September 10, GNA- The Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL), has commissioned a-two-unit semi-detached two-bedroom-apartment for the Abura Health Centre in the Ahanta-West Municipality.
The GHc700,000.00 facility, is expected to accommodate nurses who worked at the Abura Health Centre to respond to health care needs of the people.
The nurses’ quarters have ancillary facilities such as water closet toilet, bathroom and a kitchen.
Mr Perry Acheampong, Corporate Affairs Manager of GREL, said the facility valued at GHc700,000.00 would ease the burden of accommodation of nurses who worked at the health centre.
He said it was in fulfilment of a promise to provide accommodation for health personnel some few years back when GREL built the Abura Health Centre.
He said the Company would continue to spread developmental projects in the catchment area in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mr Acheampong thanked the Assembly, traditional authority and the community for the peace, unity and cooperation which existed between them to operate on their land.
He appealed to them to approach the Company whenever they had concerns for mutual and peaceful settlement.
Receiving the keys to the facility, Dr. Emmanuel Bediana, Ahanta-West Municipal Director of Health Services said Abura could boast of health centres dotted in the area due to GREL’s social intervention.
He said accommodation was key to service delivery as most of the nurses who were posted to the Centre did not stay because they had to commute long distances before coming to work.
Mr Bediana asked nurses at the facility to open to patients and provide quality health care delivery to the community.
The Health Director noted that GREL was not all out to make profit and go but to also invest in human capital development.
Ing. Ebenezer Kofi Aidoo, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Ahanta-West, said the Assembly would enact by- laws to compel small holder and Outgrowers farmers to sell their raw rubber products to GREL as a boost to production.
He, therefore, asked the Company to reduce their producer price to give them the competitive advantage on the commodity market.
That, he noted, would enable GREL to maximize production and fulfil their corporate social responsibility to the community.
Mr Kofi Aidoo said companies such as GREL had the potential to lessen the burden of government and must be given all the support.
The MCE called on the people to help GREL revive its operations because they were producing below capacity with galamsey being one of their challenges.
He said the Assembly would liaise with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to abate the galamsey nuisance which had become a threat to rubber productivity.
“Galamsey concessions will soon be a thing of the past as the government rolls out the responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (COMSDEP).
Mr Aidoo appealed to GREL to award scholarships to school children and sponsor one medical student in tertiary education every year.
Nana Kwesi Agyemang IX, Paramount Chief of Lower Dixcove and Chairman of the Association of Chiefs on Whose Land GREL Operates (ACLANGO), asked health workers and the community to maintain the facility to ginger GREL to bring more development to the area.
He said GREL’s projects were visible in the communities they operated and lauded the Company for such a nice ultra-modern edifice.
Nana Kwesi Agyemang IX called for expansion of the facility due to increase in population which would require more nurses to attend to patients.
The ACLANGO Chairman reminded the people that GREL paid full scholarships to students annually and asked them to take advantage of the opportunity to apply.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Nana Kwaku Mensah IV, Chief of Abura thanked GREL for building the health centre for the town.
He said upon a request for nurses’ quarters, GREL did not hesitate to come to their aid within a year.
Nana Kwaku Mensah IV said about 70% of their land was cultivated with rubber plantation and asked small holder farmers to sell their rubber products to GREL to enable the Company to reap the dividends and bring more development to the community.
He acknowledged the peaceful coexistence between GREL and the community and appealed to the Company to fulfil its promise of upgrading the health centre and put the road leading to the health centre in good shape.
GNA
Edited by Justina Paaga/George-Ramsey Benamba