Tema Manhean, June 03, GNA - Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Defence on Tuesday inaugurated a clinic at the Eastern Naval Command in Tema Manhean.

The clinic, which was funded by the United States government, cost 150,000 dollars and stocked with medical supplies worth 110,000 dollars. It has a consulting room, medical store room, nurses' room, dispensary, laboratory and two wards with four beds each. Mr Kan-Dapaah urged the medical personnel who would run the clinic to display high professional and managerial standards to ensure that maximum benefits were derived from the clinic. He appealed to the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Service to provide the Command with the necessary logistic support for the running of the facility.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said the clinic would also bring emergency health care delivery to the doorsteps of the people of Manhean and this would further deepen the civilian/military relation in the locality. He said a medical team from the US European Command came to Ghana for a fact finding and assistance programme two years ago during which the Command was contacted to come up with a request for assistance. He said 35 Seabees from the US Naval Construction Battalion together with engineers from the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces built the clinic which started on November 22, last year. Expressing his appreciation to the US government, the Defence Minister said the US had been a developing partner of Ghana in diverse ways since independence naming the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) as some of the recent support. Mr Kan-Dapaah pleaded for more support for the Ghana Armed Forces and that the country needed efficient and effective Armed Forces for the protection of its young democracy as well as to support security and peace in the sub-region.

He said the Ghana Navy needed more training and logistics to meet its challenges and responsibilities of protecting the country's waters especially due to the oil find.

Miss Pamela Bridgewater, US Ambassador in Ghana, commended other stake holders for donating towards the construction of the clinic and thanked the joint US/Ghana engineers for completing the work on schedule. She said the US government was pleased to work with the government and people of Ghana. Commodore Mathew Quarshie, Flag Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command, said the construction period provided an opportunity for the personnel from both countries to learn each others culture and skills. 08