Management of the Upper East Regional Hospital has expressed worry that patients have to spend many hours queuing just to access the services of a doctor. The Management of the facility said while the situation is not helpful, it is unable to immediately address the challenge because of the inadequacy of Medical Doctors at the hospital.
While a facility of its size is supposed to have a minimum of between 35 and 55 doctors, the Upper East Regional Hospital currently has only 21 doctors. Out of the 21 doctors, 8 are currently furthering their education leaving the hospital to operate with 13 doctors.
The Administrator of the Upper East Regional Hospital, Zakariah Yakubu made this known when he spoke to A1 Radio. Mr Yakubu said the facility is financially distressed as a great percentage of clients the hospital attends to bear the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Card. The financial situation he said, makes it difficult for the facility to address other concerns of the facility.
“Because of the nature of the Upper East Region, we find out that NHIS card bearers a quite high. A lot of funds we use to operate is sometimes locked up with the NHIA. Because of the delays sometimes, we have to then rely on hospital finances to enter the market to look for items to offer healthcare,” he explained.
Another challenge, according to the facility’s administrator is the difficulty in accessing water. Mr. Yakubu explained that the hospital tried to address the problem by finding the drilling of boreholes. He however explained that the situation has not improved much.
NGO Support
To help address the water challenge of the Bolgatanga Hospital, Future for Africa, a not-for-profit organisation based in the region, has constructed and handed over a mechanized borehole and a 5000-litre capacity water storage tank to the Upper East Regional Hospital. According to the group, the borehole will help address the challenge of inadequate supply of water to the various inpatient wards for use.
The project is one of many the group has undertaken. Future for Africa has been able to contribute to making clean water accessible to several remote communities, serving over 2500 people in different districts of the Upper East Region of Ghana.
The Administrator of the Upper East Regional Hospital, Zakariah Yakubu said the borehole has addressed the problem of water supply to the Children’s Ward of the hospital. Mr. Yakubu said the hospital has been able to extend the supply of water to the Emergency Ward and is hoping to do same for other wards in the facility.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
