Oda Govt Hospital cries for help
Lack of essential items is hampering the smooth operation of the Akyem Oda Government Hospital, one of the oldest health facilities in the country.
Hospital officials have lamented the lack or inadequacy oxygen, delivery beds, physiotherapy equipment, a functional kitchen, wheel chairs, among others.
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A number of new projects, including a modern maternity ward started in 2018 under the GH¢1 million per constituency policy, have stalled over the lack of funds.
This came to light during a fact-finding tour of the hospital by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, yesterday.
Inadequate facilities
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Acquaah-Harrison, who conducted the MP round the facility, said the only oxygen plant available was inadequate for the large number of patients who sought medical attention daily.
He, therefore, requested for two more oxygen plants to be installed at the operation theatre and the emergency ward.
Dr Acquaah-Harrison stated that the hospital had only four delivery beds for the large number of expectant mothers who patronised the facility daily.
He added that it was expensive to maintain the old and obsolete machines at the physiotherapy department, and, therefore, appealed to the authorities to replace them with new ones.
During the tour, it came to light that the original male ward had been divided into two and shared for male and female in-patients.
Improvising
The Medical Superintendent explained that the original female ward was converted into a COVID-19 isolation ward during the peak of the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
He said with the reduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, steps would be taken to reverse the facility to its original female ward.
Dr Acquaah-Harrison stated that officials of he Ministry of Health had inspected what was lacking at the hospital, and the staff were waiting for the ministry’s response.
The MP, Mr Acquah, expressed concern about the conditions at the hospital, and stressed that the almost 100-year-old hospital needed complete revamping to enable it to offer improved health care delivery to the public.
He also noted with concern that the hospital had not seen any major renovation for years.
He stressed that the current situation of the hospital could not be rehabilitated with the “meagre MP’s share of the Common Fund” or be done by the Birim Central Municipal Assembly.
The MP, therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Health and the central government to go the aid of the hospital within the shortest time to prevent it from total collapse.