Government on Friday commissioned an ultra-modern polyclinic for the Oduman community of the Ga West Municipal Assembly to offer comprehensive and better healthcare services for members.

The 30-bed capacity facility has an operating theatre, laboratory, maternity department, Out Patient Department, Ear, Nose and Throat Department, Ultra Sound Facilities, Obstetric and Pediatric wards, corpse storage room, and accommodation facility for the Heads of the Medical team.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Minister of Health, who commissioned the facility together with other government officials, said government constructed the facility to take health care to the doorstep of every citizen to avoid obstacles people had to go through to access basic healthcare.

He said it was also for Ghana to contribute its quota towards the achievement of universal health coverage across the globe.

The commissioning of the new polyclinic, he said, was also to reduce the pressure being put on the tertiary health facilities including the Korle-Bu Teaching and Greater Accra Regional Hospitals.

Mr Agyeman Manu said even though a pregnant woman was supposed to visit the health facility for checkup and monitoring at least four times before delivery, yet, some of them visited just once.

This, he said, sometimes made it difficult for health personnel to save them from some complications before, during and after delivery and encouraged them to adopt the habit of visiting health facilities not only when they were sick.

The Minister advised the youth to desist from drug abuse and alcoholism adding that: “There are some diseases that don’t come to you but your lifestyle such as smoking and drinking invites them. When you smoke too much, you will get many diseases that you may never know until you are dying.”

Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, advised members of the community, especially those who were not registered on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to do so as the facility accepted NHIS Cards to administer health services.

He said even though NHIS card covered maternal health services, it did not mean teenagers should engage in pre-marital sex because they could access free health care when they were impregnated.

Dr Nsiah Asare said the facility was going to give zero tolerance to maternal and neonatal deaths with the availability of professional health workers and ultra-modern facilities.

He advised the health workers and members of the community to adopt a good maintenance culture to keep the facility in good shape to offer them healthcare for a long period.

The facility, he said, would also give clients education on family planning, nutrition, and hygiene.

The Director General advised the health workers to offer their clients good services and care and asked the community not to take the law into their hands if they felt a health worker went wrong in the administration of his or her duties, but rather report the person to higher authorities.

Mr Jackson Acquaye, an Educationist, who chaired the commissioning ceremony, appealed to the government to construct the Ablekuma-Oduman- Pokuase Ablekuma road, which was in a poor state for the community.

He also appealed for an ambulance for the health facility, saying, the poor road could make it difficult for an ambulance to access the road to serve the community even if they obtained one.

Mr Acquaye commended government for the facility but also asked for the construction of pipe borne water and creation of jobs for the youth in the Oduman community.