Baaya community gets CHPS compound
A Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound constructed at the cost of $70,636 (currently about GH¢ 426,565.29) for the people of Baaya and its surrounding communities in the Pru West District in the Bono East Region was inaugurated last Monday.
The construction was done under the sponsorship of the Japanese government through its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGHSP).
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The project consists of an Out-Patient Department (OPD), consulting room, delivery room, store room, sluice room and a semi-detached residential facility.
Residents of Baaya and its surrounding communities hitherto had to travel the 15-kilometre journey to Prang, the district capital, to access healthcare.
The facility will also help boost the economy of the Baaya Zone since time spent in visiting the Prang Health Centre will be used for their economic activities.
It was, therefore, not surprising that the people defied restrictions to the attendance of the inauguration of the project because of the COVID-19 pandemic to attend the programme in their numbers.
Japan-Ghana friendship
In an address read on his behalf by the Pru West District Planning Officer, Mr Daniel Nnebini Nyamekye, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Himeno Tsutomu, said the Japanese government recognised the importance of inclusive, resilient and sustainable health system for universal health coverage and would continue to help in the provision of health facilities to support delivery in Ghana.
“The government and people of Japan support such projects in Ghana based on close relationships with the government,” he stated, adding that the continuous role played by Japan as one of Ghana’s closest development partners was aimed at improving maternal and child healthcare.
“We have chosen this project among numerous others because we were convinced that the staff and entire community will ensure maximum use of this facility and sustain it with proper maintenance for generations ahead,” he added.
Inauguration
Inaugurating the facility, the Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr Steven Jalulah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru West, called on the Japanese government to continue to support the district to improve on its infrastructural development.
He said there was the need for an all-hands-on-deck approach towards ensuring that the district assembly reached out to other parts of the district that lacked access to healthcare.
Mr Jalulah, who was the Pru West District DCE when the contract for the grant for the construction of the project was signed, expressed his gratitude to the Japanese government and gave the assurance that the facility would be put to good use.
He added that the assembly and his outfit would work closely with the health directorate to ensure sustainable service delivery to all corners of the district.
NHIS approval
The Pru West District Director of Health, Dr Benjamin Aggrey, said that already, three nurses had been posted to manage the CHPS compound and added that the facility had also been given approval for use by beneficiaries of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He asked residents of Baaya and its surrounding communities to visit the facility to access healthcare and also seek advice on health issues they might not understand.
The assembly member for Baaya, Mr Joseph Tamanja, thanked the people and government of Japan for choosing the community for the provision of the health facility and gave the assurance that the community would reciprocate the gesture by undertaking minor maintenance works on the facility from time to time.
