Swedru Government Hospital appeals for expansion
The Medical Superintendent of the Swedru Government Hospital, Dr Julius Abuku, has appealed to government through the council members of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and corporate agencies to assist in expanding the maternity unit of the hospital.
According to him, the unit was not spacious enough due to the number of cases that come to the unit lately.
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He made the appeal when the Regional Director of the GHS and some council members paid a visit to the facility last Monday.
The purpose of the visit was to get fi rst-hand information that confronted the hospital and fi nd favourable ways to address them.
The team took turns to tour the facility and interacted with some medical staff of the hospital, commending them for their invaluable service to the patients and their families.
Dr Abuku stated that the expansion of the maternity block would reduce the congestion at the unit and also allow free fl ow of nurse-to-patient care.
He said the facility needed a replacement of its old equipment at the theatre and radiology department, stressing that the old ones slowed down work and caused delays in treating patients.
“The facility needs a digital X-ray machine as well to assist the department in delivering quality service to patients,” he stated.
Progress
He said regardless of the challenges, the facility had seen a tremendous improvement over the years.
At the durbar, Dr Abuku stated that the hospital had managed to create a baby unit to allow special care for newborn babies with extreme medical conditions.
He added that the facility had reduced maternal mortality rate by 60 per cent and was hopeful to do more to save lives.
Exposure
A member of the GHS council, William Bonsu Frimpong, congratulated the staff on their selfless effort in providing health care for people.
According to him, the council thought it wise to tour various health facilities to pick up challenges confronting them and see the need to address them.
Grievances
During the staff durbar, there were series of questions and concerns raised by some staff on the issue of staff accommodation, study leave, transfer grant and GHS identification card to access other health facility in a different region for special treatment.
Tackling the issue of study leave, the Regional Director of the GHS, DrAkosua Agyeiwa Owusu-Sarpong, said most of the nurses pursued courses that were not health related and also some of the study applications were centred on the usual courses which had few slots at the region.
With the issue of transfer grant, she stated that the service lacked resources most of the time, which happened to be a challenge for them to pay such grants on time, and was hopeful that things would get better to be able to provide the grants to the beneficiaries.