ATUA GOVT HOSPITAL NEEDS URGENT ATTENTION, DAILY GRAPHIC, TUE FEB 8, 2011 (CENTER SPREAD)

Story: Della Russel Ocloo, Odumase-Krobo

THE Atua Government Hospital in the Lower Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region, which serves as a medical referral center for cases from the Yilo Krobo, Upper Manya, Dangme West and the Asuogyaman District Assemblies is in a deplorable state.
A visit by the Daily Graphic to the facility revealed that its surgical operating theatre is no longer able to meet the demand for surgical services by patients, due to an increase in the number of cases which were reported at the hospital daily.
The visit further revealed that the facility had no surgical wards, recovery rooms or equipment for monitoring the recovery or otherwise of patients. Ventilation in various parts of the hospital was generally poor and water supply inadequate.
As a result of inadequate facilities, doctors and nurses on duty share one apparel changing room. The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Alexander Osei-Bonsu said most of the surgical equipment available had become obsolete.
Dr Osei-Bonsu said, the situation has made it impossible for the hospital to treat major cases referred from the five district health centers and thus often referred many of such cases to the Tema and Koforidua government hospitals.
Dr Osei-Bonsu said reports reaching him indicated that as a result of the situation at the Auta Government Hospital, many people in the catchment area of the hospital had reverting to dependence on traditional medicines because of the long distance between many of the communities in the catchment area and the government hospitals at Tema and Koforidua.
He expressed optimistic, an approach in health financing by government, stakeholders and corporate institutions was one sure way of prolonging the country’s life expectancy as well reducing incidents of maternal and child morbidity.
He appealed to corporate organizations, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders in the health delivery sector, to support the hospital in its efforts to make a worthy contribution towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).