Awutu Senya (C/R), April 4, GNA - Mrs Patricia Antwi, Awutu Senya District Director of Health Services, has appealed to the government to expedite work on the 30 capacity male, female and children's wards being constructed at the Kasoa Health Centre to help decongest the place. The centre is overly congested due to the high number of cholera cases being reported at the centre and it is now housing some of its in-patients under a tent of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). According to Mrs Antwi, about 128 cholera cases had been reported at the facility with one death and that some of the cases were from the Gomoa East and the Accra Metropolis.

This came to light when the Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, visited cholera patients on admission at the Centre to have first hand information on how the facility was managing the situation. Mrs Patricia Antwi told the Minister that since the Kasoa Health Centr= e served as a referral point for neighbouring districts, there had been undue pressure on its facilities as a result of the high number of cases being reported there, making the workload unbearable for the few staff. Giving a background to the upsurge of the disease, she recalled that the first case was reported from the Bawjiase Sub-district in September 201= 0 with the source suspected to be a stream at Bawjiase Zongo contaminated wit= h faecal matter and refuse.

Dr Cecilia Kootin-Sawun, Doctor in charge of the Centre, who took the Minister round, said there was the need for expansion to enable the centre to deal with such epidemics because quite a number of patients sought medical attention there due to its strategic position. Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe said she was touched by the plight of the patient= s and assured the staff of government's commitment to make available the needed resources to speed up construction works to enhance quality healthcare delivery.

Ms Ivy Thompson, Regional Coordinator of the Better Ghana Management Systems, donated 10 buckets fitted with taps to the Centre to promote hand washing with soap as part of measures to combat the spread of cholera.