By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, Nov. 7, GNA – Management of the Ewim Polyclinic in Cape Coast has appealed to government and benevolent organisations for support to expand the facility’s infrastructure to befit its status and enhance its operations.
The facility, situated in the heart of the city, was originally built as the Out-Patient Department (OPD) to the 84-year-old Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital but has now evolved into a fully-fledged polyclinic providing a raft of essential services.
The polyclinic now runs various units and departments including, Diet and Nutrition, Psychiatry, Pharmacy, Diagnostic Room, and Eye Clinic, all shoehorned into the colonial structure with a few improvised offices.
With an extremely low bed capacity of between five and 11 in its maternity, accident and emergency, children, male and female and other wards, the 24-hour service facility is mostly overwhelmed.
Mr Isaac Oppong Asante, the Administrator of the Polyclinic, making a case for the expansion, intimated that the operations of the facility had far outlived its infrastructural and logistical capacity.
He made the appeal when Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Oguaamanhen, led an entourage of traditional authorities on a tour of the facility to familiarise themselves with their operations and challenges.
The visit followed a business forum held jointly by the Oguaa Traditional Council and the Ridge Royal Hotel on Tuesday, October 17 to strengthen businesses and corporate institutions in Cape Coast.
Mr Asante assured that the polyclinic had a five and a half-acre land readily available for the proposed expansion, adding that the expansion would make adequate room to add to its services and expand the existing ones.
He indicated that the polyclinic was embarking on a rebranding exercise and working to upgrade the polyclinic to a hospital status.
“We are limited in space, but we are trying our best to convert some of the rooms into theatres,” he said.
The administrator also intimated that they were faced with a raft of other challenges, including inadequate or lack of equipment such as incubators, computers, theatre equipment, anesthetic machine, patient’s monitor and electronic baby weighing machine.
“We are also in need of non-drug consumables like examination and surgical gloves, syringe and needles, catheter, gauze, bandage and cotton wool,” he said.
“Funding is particularly a challenge because about 90 per cent of our clients come in with the National Health Insurance card,” he added.
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta, after the tour, expressed his resolve to see to the expansion of the faceilit and pledged to offer every necessary support.
Nana Obiri Aduama, the Nkosohen of the Oguaa Traditional Area and Manager of the Ridge Royal Hotel, commended the management and staff of the polyclinic for their hard work and vision, and pledged his support for their development drive.
GNA