MTN hands over health compound

Mr Samuel Sarpong, MTN Manager for the Northern Business Sector, has said access to health care had been a bane to delivery of health care to people in rural communities.

Mr Sarpong said this when he handed over a GH¢216,000.00 community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound built by MTN Ghana Foundation for the chiefs and people of Dinkra in the Nkoranza North District.

The facility has an Out-Patient-Department (OPD), delivery room, consulting rooms, nurses’ station, labour ward and accommodation for the staff.

It is expected to provide accessible health care to more than 5,200 people within the catchment communities of Dinkra, Kunsu, Betoda, Padol One and Two, Asugya, Benfrano and Agege.

Mr Sarpong said there was great disparity in the health care delivery status between the urban and rural areas that needed to be addressed and because of this disparity there was an urgent need to pay attention to the critical needs of the communities.

He said the facility was in line with the Foundation’s health focus area since it was committed to improving health care delivery in the communities MTN is operating and assist Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6 by 2015.

Mr Sarpong said he was optimistic that the facility would help reduce maternal and infant mortality, provide preventive and promote such services as child welfare, ante-natal and post-natal care services, health education and counselling services.

He said since the Foundation was established in 2007, it had spent over GH¢15.5 million on community development projects in health, education and economic empowerment.

Some of the projects in the region are the construction of a 30-bed female ward for the Sene District Hospital, six-unit classrooms with office for Saunders Community School and Atuna District Assembly Community School and a three- unit classroom block for Adamsu.

In addition, the Foundation has donated neonatal incubators to Goaso Government Hospital and ventilators to the Sunyani Municipal Hospital.

Mr Donatus K. Achisiba, Nkoranza North District Director of Health Service, received the keys to the facility and said it would bring relief to the people because the nearest health facility, Dromankese Health Centre, is about 20 kilometres away.

In addition, when patients are to be sent to Dromankese during emergencies vehicles are normally difficult to come by and the roads from the hinterland communities are ragged and not motorable for cars.

Mr Achisiba said health personnel have to travel long distances daily to render health service and in terms of health outcomes available records indicate that 90 per cent of still births are from these communities, a situation which showed women in labour reported late to the health facility.

He said there are 26 CHPS facilities, seven of them have permanent compounds, six have temporary compounds and the remaining 13 are in operation without compounds.