Jema (B/A), Sept. 25, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has commended Dr Kofi Amoako-Gyampah, Medical Director of Kintampo South District Hospital and his staff, for saving lives under difficult working conditions.

The hospital, upgraded a year ago from the status of a health centre lacks equipment, space and adequate laboratory and has only one medical doctor who is able to attend to about 4,000 patients a month and about 150 patients a day.

Mrs. Lordina Mahama, wife of Mr. John Mahama, running mate to Professor John Evans Atta Mills, flag bearer of the NDC, and her entourage commended the staff of the hospital when she visited the facility as part of a one-week tour of parts of Brong Ahafo. Dr. Amoako-Gyampah said the hospital was facing challenges and being a trained medical officer he could not help but improvise beds, theatre, and records department to save lives. He said under normal conditions a hospital should have at least not less than 30 beds each for males and females. Dr Amoako-Gyampah said the hospital had 10 beds for men, seven beds for women and the children's ward served as maternity ward, which was not safe.

He said when he assumed office, the hospital had no funding and he had to borrow 20,000 Ghana cedis from the District Health Insurance office out of the 80,000 Ghana cedis he needed which he used to purchase equipment and medicines. He also borrowed beds from Kintampo and other hospitals to set up a theatre. Dr Amoako-Gyampah said what was challenging was that as a surgeon he could not continue to refer patients to other hospitals when he could carry out the surgeries himself. "Sometimes some of the patients are so poor that they cannot even afford the lorry fares back to their villages let alone buy drugs and this is a sad situation," he added. He said sometimes it took the staff more than one hour to locate a patient's folder because the hospital had no cabinets, forcing them to put folders on the floor. He commended Mrs. Mahama and her entourage for being the first official entourage to visit the hospital. Mr Yaw Effah-Baafi, NDC MP for Kintampo South, announced that he had made available 1,000 Ghana cedis to the hospital out of 20,000 Ghana cedis provided to him under the HIPC Fund for the District.