Agona Kwanyako, C/R, April 29, GNA - The Chief of Agona Kwanyako, Nana Ampim Darko V, has called on the Agona District Assembly to provide adequate structures for the Community Health Centre to function effectively.

He stated that since the clinic was constructed in 1994, through the assistance of the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development while the chiefs and people provided communal labour, the Assembly had not given help.

Nana Ampim Darko said that the Clinic was facing serious accommodation problem for the staff, adding that the situation had forced the management to convert an emergency ward into living rooms for Medical Assistant.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Kwanyako on Friday, Nana Ampim Darko noted that since the building material for the project was not sufficient the people could not provide ceiling for some of the wards.

He noted that the Out-patients Department (OPD), maternity and other blocks had no ceiling allowing mosquitoes and soldier ants had invaded the clinic.

Nana Ampim Darko said many appeals to the Agona District Assembly to construct at least one nurse's quarters had proved futile. He stated that beds and other facilities at the clinic were provided by citizens of the town including those resident in London and said that it served between 70 and 80 communities According to him the Queen Mother of Agona Kwanyako, Nana Kwaamah raised the issue at the recent People's Assembly held at Agona Swedru but no positive answer was given. He appealed to the Ministry of Health to go to the aid of the Clinic to stop the people from travelling a long distance for medical treatment.

Ms Regina E Oppong, Medical Assistant (MA) of the Clinic, when contacted by the GNA confirmed the story of no accommodation, infrastructure and staff at the clinic. She said the OPD, maternity, main ward and her living room were leaking.

Ms Oppong noted that a bungalow for nurses started by an NGO many years ago had to be abandoned due to financial constraints, saying the District Assembly provided 100 bags of cement for the laying of blocks for the project but it was abandoned She said the most common diseases were malaria and diarrhoea, adding that 5544 cases were recorded at the clinic while 355 deliveries were made in 2004.

The MA stated that in April 2006 alone 45 deliveries were recorded at the clinic.

Mr Evans Yeboah, Dispenser of the Clinic, appealed to the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to absorb the clinic since the clinics at the Nkum, Nyakrom, Mankrong and Bobikuma sub districts, which had been covered were enjoying better facilities.