Effia Nkwanta Hospital cries for help
The management of Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH) at Sekondi in the Western Region is appealing to the oil, gas and mining companies to come to the aid of the hospital to enable it to deliver quality health care to the people.
The Chief Executive Officer (Medical Director) of the Hospital, Dr Joseph Kojo Taambil told the Ghanaian Times that the hospital which was built in the 1940s had never seen any major renovation throughout the years.
He said the hospital was the referral centre for the Western, Western North regions and parts of the Central Region but lacked accommodation for critical staff.
According to him, any medical doctor posted to the facility left immediately because there were no doctors’ bungalows or flats to accommodate them, adding that four young medical doctors posted to the hospital had to leave for another place because there was no accommodation for them.
Dr Taambil said as the biggest referral centre in the region, the hospital needed better bungalows to accommodate medical doctors and other allied staff to respond to urgent cases.
,”If the staff stayed far from the hospital with the current traffic in the metropolis, it would pose a challenge for a staff to travel from Inchaban, Shama, Kojokrom, Ntankoful and other surrounding areas to attend to emergency cases,” he added.
He added that, nurses were staying in dilapidated buildings and this did not encourage staff to have the peace of mind to take care of patients at the hospital, adding, “Many doctors and nurses stay far and commute daily to work which is not the best”.
Dr Taambil disclosed that his outfit was renovating some flats and bungalows with the meagre Internally Generated Funds but that was not enough to execute the work at the hospital.
He said those who stayed in the bungalows had 10 per cent deducted at source from their salaries but these amounts were never sent to the hospital for repair works.
The Medical Director said if the bungalows and flats were renovated the doctors and other critical staff like anaesthetists would be accommodated very close to the hospital to offer their services to patients promptly.
FROM PETER GBAMBILA, EFFIA
