Hot!News

Kasoa 80-bed Polyclinic left unused …after 2 years of completion

The 80-bed capacity Kasoa ultra-modern Polyclinic at CP, in the Awutu Senya East Municipality of the Central Region, has not been put to use since its completion nearly two years ago.

 The modern health facility, which was constructed as one of the components of the Kasoa Interchange and roads projects, still remains under lock and key, resulting in weeds and reptiles taking over the facility.

Kasoa is a sprawling commercial centre with a population of over 700,000.

But, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said on the contrary that the polyclinic was handed over to it by the contractors without the basic medical equipment and other ancillaries facilities installed to make it into a full health facility and ready for use by the beneficiaries.

 The Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the ministry, Mr Elorm Ametepe, in reaction, confirmed that the polyclinic was not being put to use but was quick to add that the ministry was in the process of sourcing some funding to furnish the polyclinic before it would be officially opened to the public.

“The Kasoa-CP Polyclinic should have been equipped and ready for use before handing it over to the MoH as it has been the case in time past, but unfortunately no medical facilities were provided by the contractors”, he said.

Mr Ametepe said the ministry was aware of the difficulties the residents go through to access health services at the old Kasoa Polyclinic and appealed to them to exercise patience as the ministry would ensure that the facility was operational as early as possible to ease their plight.

As a result of the new facility not been completed, residents  are compelled to travel several kilometres and form  long queues to access health care at the old Kasoa Polyclinic located at the Kasoa Old Market near the interchange.

Some residents of the area and its environs the Ghanaian Times spoke with appealed to the government to open the facility to save lives and reduce the time people spent at the old Polyclinic.

In separate interviews with the Ghanaian Times, some residents bemoaned the delay in the opening of the polyclinic, saying it was better for authorities to have waited till they were ready before putting up the facility instead of giving them false hope.

Mr Kwabena Gyamfi, a mechanic and resident of CP claimed that the government did not care about the welfare of Kasoa residents that was why the facility was still locked, despite the fact that people in the area were in dire need of proper healthcare delivery.

“I have realised our health is not on government’s priority list, if not why would we be having such an edifice and still struggle to get healthcare elsewhere.

“The Kasoa Polyclinic is woefully inadequate because you go there as early as 6am and only get to be attended to after spending not less than seven to eight hours. If care is not taken, you might even die in the process,” he lamented.

Mrs Dora Ampofu, a trader, also recounted how she nearly lost her newborn baby when she delivered in a taxi on her way to the hospital.

She said if the polyclinic was operational, she would not have gone through that kind of experience since she lived close to the newly constructed health facility.

She called on authorities to, as a matter of urgency, do what was needed to be done to open the health facility.

A resident of Opeikuma, a suburb of Kasoa, Fuseini Aziz mentioned that the polyclinic, when opened, would go a long way in reducing preventable deaths in the municipality and promote proper healthcare delivery.

“Kasoa has thousands of people as residents and the only polyclinic here is not enough, so our leaders must stop politicising the opening of the facility and think about our welfare first,” he added.

A health practitioner at the old Kasoa Polyclinic lamented that some patients who required admission were often turned away or treated in the Out Patients Department (OPD) due to the lack of beds.

She said “We are always working under pressure here because of the high number of patients coming here every day so the opening of the new and bigger facility at CP will go a long way in salvaging the situation.”


BY RAISSA SAMBOU

Show More
Back to top button