Nyinahin (Ash), May 15, GNA - Lack of certain basic facilities, notably an ambulance and a mortuary is hampering effective and efficient health delivery services at the Atwima-Mponua District Hospital at Nyinahin.

The situation has reduced the status of the Hospital as a district referral point with a large clientele.

Dr Yusif Adamu Al-Hasan, Medical Director, told the Ghana News Agency at Nyinahin on Monday that the Hospital, which started as a health centre in 1965 and upgraded to a District Hospital in 1999, is the seat of all health activities in the District and also has a large catchment area including peripheral communities and districts as well as parts of Brong-Ahafo and Western regions.

He said the need for an ambulance and a mortuary was long overdue since the area was prone to accidents and expressed grave concern about the situation, which must be tackled with all the urgency it deserved. Dr Al-Hassan disclosed that a blood bank had now been set up to meet demands for blood at the Hospital.

He said the absence of a blood bank, which had for sometime necessitated referrals of anaemia cases to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi had now been solved with the setting up of the bank, which is manned by trained laboratory technicians from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He urged chiefs, youth clubs, churches and other public-spirited individuals to donate blood to cater for some emergencies at the Hospital.

Dr Al-Hassan appealed to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the District Assembly and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to come to the aid of the Hospital to save precious lives in the area.