Accra: Patients carried in wheelbarrows to health centres

Persons who fall sick in the night are being forced to endure the trauma of having to be carried in wheelbarrows because motorist have blatantly refused to ply the area due to poor roads at Glege, a suburb of Accra.

The plight of the residents is compounded by the closure of the Community Health Improvement Services (CHIPS) compounds in the area due to the failure of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to renew the rent agreement with the landlord.

Snippets of information gathered by the Daily Heritage indicate that a pregnant woman and a middle aged man have lost their lives as a result of the absence of a health facility in the area.

The most intriguing aspect of the situation is that, with the emergence of cholera and malaria in the area, resident’s fear an epidemic may break.

Speaking to the paper in an interview, the assembly member for Gbebu electoral area, Emmanuel Boryor, said the place has been closed down because of lack of funds, but it is being done at the detriment of the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to him, the closure of the CHIPS compound has placed a considerable strain on the Mamprobi polyclinic.

“AMA refused to pay the money to renew the contract, so the nurses decided to pack and go and now we are the ones suffering,” he lamented.

The legislator said the place has been closed down almost a year and has forced the landlord to cede the rooms to their relations.

He said it is affecting the community given the upsurge in malaria and cholera, adding that, “our community has been flooded, and you can guess what would follow. Where are we supposed to go when we fall ill?”

He recounted that a certain pregnant woman lost her life, and a man died because the taxi driver refused to carry them to the hospital because of the bad roads.

He lamented that they used wheelbarrows to carry the sick to the hospital because that is the only means one could be conveyed with speed.

He appealed to the government to open the facility to facilitate quality health care delivery in the area.

A hairdresser, Mary Quansah, who has rented part of the CHIPS compound for her salon, said the landlord reviewed the prices, but it was on the high side for health workers thus, family members had taken over the place.

She recounted the immense help the CHIPS compound provided the residents, especially, pregnant women who hitherto had to walk long distances to clinics in neighboring communities.