Kwahu Atibie (E/R), April 26, GNA - Dr Isaac Richard Osabutey, the Medical Superintendent of the Kwahu Government Hospital, has appealed to the government and the Ministry of Health for support to rehabilitate the hospital.

He said since the hospital was established in 1964, it had not known any major rehabilitation.

Dr Osabutey made the appeal when MTN- Ghana, a leading Telecommunication Company, donated an infant incubator worth GH¢ 11,000.00 to the hospital on Tuesday. He said the provision of the incubator would help reduce maternal and neonatal mortality at the hospital. Dr Osabutey said the absence of that facility at the hospital was making work difficult for the staff since infants in need of the facility were often transported to the Okomfo Anokye hospital or other Koforidua hospitals where the facility was available. He said a major challenge facing the hospital was water and pleaded that steps be taken to solve that problem. Dr Osabutey expressed the hospital's profound gratitude to MTN- Ghana for their kind gesture.

Presenting the item, Mr Archibald Annan, Budgeting, Resource and Reputation Manager of MTN- Ghana, said the presentation was part of their numerous projects towards bringing quality health care to the doorstep of the people.

He said the MTN Foundation was touched when it realised that a hospital with a daily Out-Patient Department (OPD), attendance of about 400 patients with an annual supervised delivery of 3,000, and a big functional reproductive health department comprising anti- natal and post natal clinic, lacked an incubator. He said as a social conscious and responsible company, they were concerned to hear that most of the preterm babies were usually referred to the Regional hospital in Koforidua or Komfo Anokye in Kumasi about 22 kilometers away from Atibie.

Mr Annan noted that the situation meant that mothers who were unable to send their babies to the referral hospitals on time risked losing them under very painful circumstances. Mr Okofo Boadi Bompong, the Kwahu South Co-ordinating Director, commended MTN- Ghana, for the good work it was doing and called on other cooperate bodies to assist the hospital. The Kwahu Government Hospital, Atibie, serves an estimated 230,000 people from over 200 communities within and outside Kwahu.