The Sandema Hospital in the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region has appealed to the Government and non- governmental organisations for a new power plant to replace the old faulty one, which impedes service delivery.
Dr Emmanuel Opoku, the Acting Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Sandema, said the current plant, procured several decades ago, frequently broke down and interrupted service delivery, especially with the erratic power supply in the Municipality.
He said though Management of the facility had, over the years, tried to repair and maintain the plant, it appeared the plant had outlived its usefulness and needed to be replaced.
Dr Opoku said the Hospital migrated onto the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS), a computerised system of service delivery, but the current condition of the plant greatly affected its operations.
“Now the system is such that if there is no power, we cannot attend to patients unless we revert to the paper system,” he said.
“And with that, when the power is eventually restored, patients’ information will have to be inputted into the system. Time and resources go into that, so if we can get a new plant that can power the facility when there is power cut, that will be of very good help to us.”
Though the hospital had another plant, its power capacity was low and mainly served only the theatre, he said, and that the faulty plant had a higher capacity to serve the rest of the units.
“So if we could get philanthropists, donors, government or non-governmental organisations to help us, it will improve our service delivery,” Dr Opoku said.
Aside the challenge with the power plant was the inadequate equipping of the Laboratory Department to conduct critical health investigations, he said.
“This is a very big facility, and if we are able to do Culture and Sensitivity test, Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) Creatinine, and Electrolytes, among other investigations, it will help us. It is not every case that we have to refer to laboratories outside the Hospital,” he said.
“Besides, our people are well trained professionals as compared to laboratories outside where there may be just one trained person, assisted by untrained people. So if we were able to get the necessary equipment and machines to run the laboratory, it would be better.”
Dr Opoku said as part of measures to improve service delivery for the Hospital to regain its lost glory, Management, among other initiatives, would revamp its defunct X-ray Department, which compelled patients to travel to either Navrongo or Bolgatanga for X-ray services.
Source: GNA
