At the Sumbrungu Health Centre in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region, a nurses’ quarters for it’s staff that had been abandoned because of its poor condition has finally been renovated.
With an average of 60 attendants per day for the majority of the year and 80 to 100 attendants per day in September 2022 alone, the Health Centre provides care for more than 13,000 residents of Sumbrungu.
Old Look Of The Quarters
This renovation project was commenced in response to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report from May 2020, which drew the attention of Mr. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, to assist with the rehabilitation of the facility through his part of the Common Fund because the quarters has now turned into a death trap for inhabitants.
According to the hospital’s management and the Ghana Health Service’s Bolgatanga Municipal Health Directorate, the renovation work began in 2020 and was finished in the final quarter of 2022.
Along with expressing their joy over the remodeled quarters, the leadership and personnel also complimented the GNA for alerting authorities to the facility’s poor condition and the situation of its staff.
According to Bolgatanga Municipal Health Director Mr. Stephen Bordotsiah, staff members were given the facilities to dwell in to help with healthcare services, particularly at night.
He commented that the facility’s renovation was a comfort since it made it possible for crucial health workers to remain on hand to help in emergency situations, especially at night, as opposed to diverting most cases to the local hospital.
New Look Of The Quarters
“With the current economic challenges when fuel prices reached the highest point in the country, it affected staff a lot because the staff were spending huge sums on transport commuting from Bolgatanga to the health centre and becoming unbearable for staff and that affected service delivery a lot,” he told reporters.
The Municipal Health Director praised the Member of Parliament for taking action on the matter and pleaded for the provision of more housing options so that more healthcare professionals may be housed there to enhance the delivery of healthcare services.
The health workers had left the facility when the Ghana News Agency visited it prior to its renovation, and they described it as a death trap because the quarters were not only too small to house all of the health workers stationed there, but they were also in a poor condition and posed a risk to those residing there.
The GNA saw that the facility’s walls, flooring, and some of its roofs were damaged, and that its woodwork and ceiling were rotting from rainwater that had gathered in the rooms.
As a result, when on duty, staff members began driving from their different homes to the Health Centre, adding stress to them and impairing the facility’s ability to provide services.