Save Tema General Hospital now – Group

A group calling itself Forum For Good Governance & Democracy (FGGD) has indicated that the Tema General Hospital in the Greater Accra region is on the verge of collapse.

The group has, therefore, urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to take every necessary step to ensure the continuous existence of the hospital.

FGGD made this known in a press release issued by its Executive Director, Joseph Otoo, saying, “The Tema General Hospital, the only general hospital in the Tema Metropolis, is gradually entering into a debilitating situation which could lead to its total shutdown.”

According to the release titled ‘Save Tema General Hospital From Collapsing & Hasten Proposed Arrangement By Foreign Investors For Upgrade’, the hospital has not been given the needed attention by the state in recent past and that interventions by some foreign investors to upgrade it to an international standard has proved futile.

“It is, however, noted that the hospital is faced with serious challenges like poor and outmoded infrastructure, inadequate space and lack of equipment among other things,” it said.

Investors

“Following invitation by the Ghana Government, calling partners to express interest in the upgrade of the hospital in 2013 to promote quality healthcare delivery, Mr David Carmely, the Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Group BV from Amsterdam, Netherlands, proposed to invest in the development of the Tema General Hospital into a first class modern hospital complex and upgrade it to a 420-bed capacity to supplement the existing ones.”

“Having met the required demands of relevant state agencies, the premium design of the hospital project was approved and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between government i.e. the Ministry of Health initiated by the then Minister, Alex Segbefia, and Synergy Group in 2016.”

“Subsequently, the current Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has been contacted and he has expressed his full support for the project per keeping the Finance Minister informed.”

“However, the commencement of the project is in shambles,” the statement added.

“We are calling on the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, to, as a matter of urgency, initiate a quick move to the Tema General Hospital to ascertain the situation and order for the commencement of the project as soon as possible,” according to the statement.

“It is our hope that the government would be swift enough to respond to the debilitating situation we are going through in Tema,” it added.

The Tema General Hospital was built by the colonial administration in 1954 to provide healthcare for workers who constructed the Tema Harbour.

Its catchment area extends as far as Dangme West and Dangme East Districts, Teshie, Nungua, Kpone, Ashaiman, Afienya, Kakasunanka, Appolonia, Dawhenya, Prampram, Klagon, among others, with an estimated population of 800,000.

The hospital is the major referral point for all major clinics and hospitals in the Tema Metropolis.

When contacted by DAILY GUIDE to respond to the issues raised in the press release by FGGD, Dr Opoku Adusei, the Tema General Hospital’s Medical Director, he said, “Ask your editor that he should give you a vehicle to come over to see for yourself.”