Minority bemoans abandoned health facilities
The Minority in Parliament has expressed concern over the number of abandoned health facilities across the country and has said it is a sign of failure of effective health delivery.
According to them, the government had shown little interest in salvaging the image of the health sector as facilities that were constructed or for which construction had began by the previous government had been left to rot.
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The Members of Parliament (MPs) expressed this concern last Monday when they toured some facilities in the Ashanti Region as part of a nationwide inspection of abandoned hospitals.
The team was led by the Ranking Leader on Health, Mr Kwabena Minta Akandoh (MP for Juaboso), with Mr Charles Agbeve (MP for Agotime Ziope), Dr Kurt Nawaane (MP for Nandom), Dr Sebastian Sandaare (MP for Daffiema Issa Bussie) and Mr Charles Hodogbey (MP for Central Tongu).
The group toured the abandoned Kumawu District Hospital in the Kumawu Sekyere District, the Tepa District Hospital, as well as the Fomena District Hospital.
Briefing the media after their tour, Mr Akandoh said the government had not given the health sector the necessary attention it deserved.
Current conditions
A compound overgrown with weeds welcomed the team when they arrived at each of the three facilities.
While the Fomena Hospital still needs more work to be done, the facilities at Kumawu and were nearing completion, with doors and a number air conditioners installed, all at the mercy of the weather.
A three-man security personnel on duty at Kumawu, led by Charles Obeng, told the Daily Graphic that they were sometimes threatened by snakes and scorpions when it rains, while the bushes could easily catch fire from the hunting activities that went on in the area in the dry season.
Disappointment
The group expressed disappointment after it took the pain to visit the stalled Tepa and Fomena district hospitals, which had been left at the mercy of the rains.
Mr Akandoh said the Minority would use any platform available, such as organising series of press conferences and questioning authorities on the floor of Parliament until their plea was heard.
Coincidence
The team, on arrival at the abandoned Kumawu District Hospital, coincidentally met with the DCE for the area, Mr Samuel Addai Agyekum, and some officers who were already there to inspect the site.
According to the DCE, the government was busily working behind the scenes to get the projects completed, adding that a team of experts would be visiting the site for the final valuation of the building for work to resume.
Appeal
The Kwamuhene, Barima Sarfo Tweneboah Koduah, represented by his Saanahene, Nana Bonsu Ansah, said the practice of succeeding governments ignoring uncompleted projects initiated by their predecessors was a drain on the national coffers and deprived taxpayers of the benefit of those projects.
"Governments come and go, but every project is eventually paid with Ghanaian taxpayers’ money and Ghanaians must not suffer when political leadership changes,” he added.
For his part, the Adansihene Kyeame, Nana Kwabena Kusi, who together with some members of the Adansi Traditional Council accompanied the team to the abandoned Fomena District Hospital, noted that the situation had left Fomena and neighbouring communities with no option than to go as far as Bekwai to access medical health care.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to come to their aid.