Sekondi,Nov.4,GNA-Officials of the Jubilee Oil Venture say they are encouraged by the pace of work on health and sanitation projects they are sponsoring within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. "But we hope that the contractors working on them will deliver the projects on schedule to enable the communities benefit from their highly anticipated services."

Dr. Toni Aubynn, Corporate Affairs Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, who led a team of Jubilee Venture officials to inspect the projects, said the Jubilee Partnership is eager to see the communities using their facilities by the close of January next year.

Led by Tullow, the Jubilee Partnership has invested about US 712,068.00 (GHC 1,032,499.00) into the construction of a Maternity Block for the Essikado Hospital, the completion of a new Accident and Emergency Ward for the Efia Nkwanta Hospital and rehabilitation of the Sekondi Anaafo Beach. Although all three projects fall within the partnership's declared four key pillars for social investment, these were actually initiated at the request of local institutions and community authorities. In recent years, the maternity unit of the 46 years old Essikado Hospital, which serves a wide catchment area covering Kojokrom, Nchaban, Ngyiresia and many other adjoining communities has come under intense pressure with its aging equipment and low total bed complement of just about 21. The Jubilee Partnership, in September, commissioned the construction of a modern seven-ward Maternity Block with a total bedding capacity of 200 expected to be completed by the end of March next year. This project cost GHC600, 000.00 and Assikado Hospital's Nurse Manager, Madam Naomi Kwakye, described the Jubilee Partnership's initiative as 'a very major boost which has arrived just in time'.

"Our hospital serves several thousands of people from several communities around here but since its establishment in 1964, Assikado has not benefitted from any serious expansion programme until this. We are most impressed and cannot wait to start using the new Block. "We do know that Essikado Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in the entire Western Region and that its capacities have been far outstripped by a growing population and new responsibilities. The Jubilee Partnership is proud to be of help to the Assikado community because for us, good health is the key to every successful enterprise", said Dr. Aubynn. When completed, the new maternity block will have an Operating Theatre, Delivery Unit, a First Aid unit and the wards which will comprise four main wards and three side wards.

At the Afia-Nkwanta Hospital, another old but probably the busiest and most pressurized medical facility in the entire Western Region, the Jubilee Partnership is financing the completion of a new Accident and Emergency Ward whose construction has stalled for several years due to lack of funding. The hospital's Medical Director, Dr Paul Kwaw Ntodi, told newsmen that the old Accident and Emergency Ward has been in a 'pitiful state' for many years.

"Our old A and E Ward is congested, it has no theatre and can take and offer only ten beds to the hundreds of people who need to be admitted'. With the Jubilee partners' commitment of GHC 215,000.00 needed to complete the project, work has progressed considerably and both the partners and hospital officials are confident that by February next year, Afia Nkwanta Hospital could be opening a new Accident and Emergency Ward. The last community project inspected by the team was the improvement programme for the Sekondi Anaafo Beach, a once popular recreational area which has suffered complete degradation due to neglect and the collapse of sanitary services.

Working in conjunction with the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the office of the Regional Parks and Gardens, the Jubilee Partners have invested US 150,000.00 (about GHC 217,500.00) to clean up and beautify the one kilometre stretch of Sekondi Anaafo's quarry-stone protected beach line with greens and build a modern toilet facility right upon the beach to prevent locals from defecating there.

"When we at Jubilee talk about our concern for general health improvement, sanitation is a key component of it. We have concluded consultations with our partners for this project - the Metropolitan Assembly and the Regional Parks and Gardens - and we are ready to clean up this once beautiful beach, build a new toilet facility for it and upgrade its recreational potentials for the benefit of the people of this great community" Dr. Tony Aubynn said. Sustainable healthcare for the communities is a key component of the Jubilee Partnership's four pillars of corporate social responsibility along with education, enterprise development and natural resource governance. 14 Nov. 10