NPP candidate donates medical equipment to two institutions
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for the Tema West Constituency, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has donated medical equipment valued at US$50,000 to two institutions in Tema.
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The beneficiary institutions, the Tema General Hospital and the Tema Polyclinic, received the equipment made up of hand gloves, computed tomography (CT) scan machines, microscopes, a cardiotocography (CTG) machine and accessories used to check foetal heartbeat.
Other items were delivery beds, sterilisers, pulse indicators, smoke evacuation system, dental beds, theatre stools and laparoscopic machines.
Mr Ahenkorah indicated that the donation formed part of a week-long activities to mark his 50th birthday and also part of annual philanthropic activities he had engaged in the constituency over the last couple of years.
At the ceremonies, Mr Ahenkorah told the elated hospital staff that an NPP government would upgrade the Tema Polyclinic into a fully fledged metropolitan hospital to ease pressure on the Tema General Hospital.
He said the polyclinic has adequate land space which can developed for the facility to achieve the status of a metropolitan hospital.
He reiterated the fact that the health of people remained a vital tool in the country’s development.
He chided the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for “its failure to maintain and build on the various health intervention programmes instituted by the previous NPP administration.”
“This would not be the first of such donations to your facilities, I intend to make it even bigger when I become a Member of Parliament (MP) for the area in a Nana Akufo-Addo-led government,” Mr Ahenkorah said.
Polyclinic
The Administrator of the Tema Polyclinic, Ms Josephine Boateng, spoke on behalf of the management of the facility and described the donation as the biggest of such philanthropic gestures in the life of the polyclinic.
According to her, the donation has come at a time the hospital lacks basic equipment to operate efficiently.
“Our scan machine has been out of order for the past two years and we often have to refer pregnant women in need of such services to private facilities in the metropolis,” she said.
She also said congestion and ageing hospital equipment were impeding efficiency in the clinic’s operations “and we will greatly appreciate any move to have the facility upgraded.”
General Hospital
The Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital (TGH), Dr Kwabena Adusei-Opoku, expressed worry that the facility was underperforming because of the lack of capital to complete abandoned projects at the facility.
Similarly, he said the establishment of a nursing college under the hospital, for which reason the hospital was situated on a large tract of land, had remained on a drawing board.
“What is the need for government’s decision to acquire new lands for the purpose of establishing nursing colleges when the facility could host such?” Dr Adusei-Opoku queried.
“Apart from Korle Bu, the Tema General Hospital is one such facility that has large tracts of land that could be used purposefully to adequately address the health needs of the country,” he added.
“There is no NPP malaria, and there is no NDC malaria. Malaria is universal and could affect everybody, but if we can help build a robust health system, we would be able to achieve our development goals with a healthy people,” Dr Adusei-Opoku emphasised.
He commended Mr Ahenkorah for reaching out to the two hospitals and called on other political parties to extend a helping hand too.
