Aflao hospital cries for help

Patients who receive healthcare from the Ketu South Municipal Hospital in Aflao, home to Ghana’s main eastern border, have expressed concern over the poor nature of facilities at the hospital.

They lamented that the hospital lacks adequate personnel to attend to them, thereby making quality healthcare delivery a luxury.

A patient, Akwele Nyormi, disclosed that “the situation is no fault of the health workers but the facility is just too small and lacks the requisite resources to facilitate quality healthcare.”

She cited how she had to endure congestion and heat when she was in labour, and narrated how some of her colleagues had to be treated on benches as they waited their turn for delivery in the labour ward.

The 100-bed capacity is woefully inadequate for the facility which is main the main referral centre for several clinics.

CHPS compounds in the area, DAILY GUIDE discovered, have not seen any expansion and major renovation since it was upgraded from a health centre to a hospital some 17 years ago.

Currently, the hospital records an average of 10 deliveries daily, yet the maternity and antenatal units are heavily congested, resulting in some expectant mothers being attended to on benches, plastic chairs and others receiving care on mattresses laid on the floor.

The matron in-charge of the maternity unit, Innocentia Antonio, lamented that the situation was more terrible between May and July when maternity cases were higher, adding that the ante-natal unit also has more serious situation.

She, therefore, appealed to donors, philanthropists and others to come to the aid of the hospital.

Madam Antonio made the appeal when the humanitarian missionary of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints presented medical equipment worth GH¢ 200,000 to nine health facilities in the area.

The items included an incubator, sterilisers, delivery beds, glucometer, BP meter and many other medical equipment.