Correspondence from Western Region

The Chief of Nkroful in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region, Nana Kwasi Kutuah V has appealed to President Akufo-Addo to construct a District Hospital in the area to improve access to healthcare.

In his eighth COVID-19 nationwide address, President Akufo-Addo pledged to construct 88 District Hospitals within a year.

It is expected that all the district without hospitals will benefit from the initiative.

"There are 88) districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have five infectious disease control centres dotted across the country; and we do not have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVD-19. We must do something urgently about this. That is why Government has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals", President Akufo-Addo emphasized during his eighth address.

President Akufo-Addo also assured that the four Districts in the Western Region without district hospitals, would benefit.

But the Ministry of Health had announced to construct two out of the four and the two beneficiary Districts are; Shama and Mpohor.

Meanwhile, Ellembelle District is without a district hospital.

In this regard, the Chief of Nkroful, the hometown of the first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is pleading with President Akufo-Addo to consider Ellembelle District.

He said Nkroful as the district capital of Ellembelle deserves a district hospital and added that the Akufo-Addo-led government should not disappoint them.

Nana Kwasi Kutuah V disclosed that the district hospital project had been his topmost priority since he became the chief of Nkroful.

The Chief who made the appeal through GhanaWeb, on Friday, August 14, said the community has demarcated over 40 acres of land for the project.

"The District Hospital has been my topmost priority since I became the chief of Nkroful. We have demarcated a land for it. The land that we want the Government to use to build the hospital is 40 acres of land plus and it is even bigger than what the government is saying it will use to build the 88 district hospitals", he stated.

"We will try our best to get this District Hospital in Ellembelle because Nkroful deserves better", he added.

He stressed that the community and Ellembelle as a whole would not be happy with Akufo-Addo-led government if they do not get the hospital.

He, therefore, took the opportunity, and urged the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area Mr Kwasi Bonzoh to book an appointment for them to meet President Akufo-Addo and inform him about their priority.

"I will urge the Ellembelle DCE to book an appointment for Nananom to meet President Akufo-Addo and put our request before him to build a district hospital at Nkroful".

He continued, "What is most important to the good people of Nkroful is our deplorable road and a District Hospital and as for the District Hospital if we don't get it, we will not be happy at all, the last time I met Hon. Freddie Blay and I put it before him that as for the District Hospital if we don't get it, we will not be happy because Nkroful is the heart of Ellembelle District".

Nana Kwasi Kutuah V, however, commended President Akufo-Addo for constructing the deplorable Nkroful road.

He also seized the opportunity to disclose that the massive demonstration organised by the Chiefs and residents of Ellembelle District on the Nkroful deplorable road in late 2019 after several failed promises made by this government, was not sponsored by any politician but some chiefs including him in the Ellembelle District.

He called on the contractor to expedite action on the road to complete it before the December 7 polls.

"I will call on the contractor and the government to finish the road before December 7 because successive governments had been abandoned projects immediately after elections and we don't want this Nkroful road to witness same", he concluded.

Some residents of Ellembelle District have expressed their worries about the deplorable state of the Kwame Nkrumah museum which serves as a tourist attraction for the District and therefore, appealed to the government to develop the place to attract more tourists and boost the local economy of the people.