‘Kintampo-Tamale road requires accident, emergency unit’
The Bono East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Fred Adomako-Boateng, is calling for the establishment of an Accident and Emergency Unit to be sited along the Kintampo-Tamale highway to attend to accident victims.
He noted that the lack of such a specialised unit on that stretch of the highway which record frequent road fatalities through road couple with road crashes had contributed to the death of more accident victims as hospitals in the region lack the capacity to attend to such high accidents cases whenever they occurred.
“The most critical moment for an accident patient is the holding time, that is where the patient needs to be stabilised before referring to a specialised facility for treatment,” he stated.
Dr Adomako-Boateng explained that accidents were abound to happen no matter what, and that looking at the high rate of accidents on that stretch of the road called for such a vital facility to be built for the country.
The Techiman-Kintampo -Tamale highway is noted for recording more accident with fatalities in the country yearly.
Just this month (on March 5, 2023) 23 people died and 24 injured in a gory accident involving Yendi-Kumasi bound Granbird bus with registration number AS 4635-22 and articulated-truck with registration number GW1127-P on the Kintampo-Tamale highway.
The Bono East Regional Director of Health Services was speaking in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the annual performance review of the health directorate on Wednesday at Kintampo.
It was on the theme: “Building structures for quality essential service delivery, preparedness and response for emerging and re-emerging diseases, the role of the community and strategic partnership.”
Dr Adomako-Boateng said Malaria, Diarrhoea and Respiratory Tract Infections were the leading cause of death of patients in the region.
The Bono East Regional Minister, Kwasi Adu Gyan, in an address said the region in some parts, started building structures for quality essential services by equitably distributing newly recruited health professionals to the districts and communities to work with the development partners, to building the capacity of the district and regional rapid response teams to prepare emergency preparedness plans and response to public health emergency.
He said the Regional Coordinating Council strategic plan sites a teaching hospital in the region to provide tertiary level care in the region and the country.
“We have identified some development partners who have conducted extensive stakeholder consultation with major key players in the region,” he said.
He assured that the Regional Coordinator Council would continue to lobby for resources for all sectors including health.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, KINTAMPO
