– High Commissioner assures Volta citizens

The Executives of Noviha (UK), a Charity organisation based in the United Kingdom, last Tuesday called on His Excellency, Professor Kwaku Danso-Boafo, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and presented him with a list of problems the Charity says was affecting the efficient running of the Keta Hospital and for which it was raising funds to help solve.
Membership of Noviha is made up of citizens from the Volta Region of Ghana, who at this year’s celebration of the Hogbetsotso festival in the UK, lamented the deplorable state the Keta Hospital is in.
According to Mr. Kofi Agbolegbe, President of Noviha UK, there is acute shortage of Medical and Nursing staff at the hospital as a result, patients who attend the hospital tend not to be seen for long periods of time.
The Dental Department of the Hospital lacked essential equipment and is in urgent need for the replacement of the dental chair currently used by the hospital, he said.
Mr. Agbolegbe said the hospital has not got enough delivery and post natal beds, insufficient bed linen, inadequate oxygen humidifier and lacked even stethoscope.
The waste water carriage system, he said has not worked for years while the ultra sound machine has broken down because it lacked a new power pack.
The Noviha UK President said the Keta hospital is in dire need of an X-ray machine as the old one has broken down.
The Charity also asked that the Health centre in Anlogah be upgraded to a hospital
The High Commissioner, Prof. Danso-Boafo, who was at the celebration of the festival and who was at the time of the rehabilitation of the Keta Hospital, the Minister of Health, expressed surprise at the grievances presented in the address of Tobgi Akumey Geli Adjorolo III, Dufia of Atorkor and asked the Executives of Noviha to present him with the list of problems at the hospital and he would personally take it up with the Ghana Health Service and the current Minister of Health.
Prof. Danso-Boafo said he was surprised that the massive renovations undertaken during his tenure as Minister for Health in the National Democratic Congress 1 (NDC 1) government in 2000, has deteriorated to the point where the people of Keta are no longer satisfied with the hospital.
He recalled that the Keta hospital had four medical Doctors and a Dentist by the time the refurbishment of the hospital was completed in 2000 and was surprised at the claim by Executives of Noviha that there was acute shortage of medical and nursing staff at the hospital.
He promised the Executives of Noviha UK that he would do his best to see their grievances addressed and cautioned that his actions should not be misconstrued as a political campaign gimmick because of this year’s elections. Rather, he declared that as a listening and caring government, it took such complaints very seriously. He gave the assurance that he would work with Noviha and the Ghana Health Service to secure the necessary resources to enable the hospital provide lifesaving services to the people and surrounding villages.
Prof. Danso-Boafo also thanked the Charity for its contribution during the memorial, thanksgiving and the final funeral rites of the late President John Evans Atta Mills in the UK.