Central Region cries for hospital

The Assin South District of the Central Region is in dire need of a district hospital to enable the inhabitants have access to quality healthcare.

The establishment of a hospital in the area will also help reduce the burden on St Francis Xavier hospital at Assin Fosu and the Abura Dunkwa district hospital since people living in the Assin South district have to travel all the way to these areas to access healthcare.

Addressing health workers at Nyankumasi Ahenkro during the annual review performance meeting of the district health center in 2009, the District Health Director of Health Services, Mr Mends Kofi Quaning, noted that due to the lack of a hospital in the area, healthcare delivery has been greatly affected as disease infections increase every year in the area.

Mr Quaning said the area has a population of about 1,800 but cannot boast of a single hospital or a medical doctor and has therefore appealed to stakeholder of health to join hands to ensure that the districts get a hospital.

He said the area only relies on three medical assistants and an under-resourced health center to offer health care to the people.

According to him, the year 2009 was a hectic year for them as they had to adjust with the limited resources they had to be able to meet the health needs of the people in the area.

The district health director said plans were underway for 11 Community Based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds to be constructed as the sites have already been demarcated. Work on these sites, he disclosed, would start in 2015.
Mr Quaning said Malaria has been the major disease in the area as they recorded 32,841 cases in 2009 representing 60% of Out Patient Department (OPD) diseases. The figure also shows an increase of 1.3% over that of 2008.

He, however, announced that maternal and infant mortality has reduced drastically in the district as it has not recorded any maternal deaths in the past two years.

Mr Quaning also appealed to government to establish a diagnostic center for HIV/AIDS in the district to enable health practitioners prevent the mother to child transmission.

The Medical Assistant in charge of Nyankumasi Sub district, Mr Isaac Fosu Manford, reiterated that 2009 was a difficult year for them as they had to work under severe resource constraints and had to also adjust to delay of their reimbursement.
He urged health the workers to continue to work hard in the discharge of their duties so as to make communities in the area free from diseases.

The Assin South District Chief Executive, Mrs Sabbinah Appiah-Kubi, in a speech read on her behalf by the District Coordinating Officer, Mr Thaddeus Zeasan, advised the health workers to give of their best in spite of the numerous challenges they face to help the country achieve its millennium development goals.

She pledged her outfit’s support to assist them in every way possible to improve health delivery in the district.