Tema industries fail to assist us – Tema Manhean Health Centre
The Director of the Tema Manhean Health Centre says industries in Tema Metropolis have refused to assist the health facility to provide quality health services to the people of Tema Newtown.
Dr. Joseph Kojo Donkor wonders why several attempts by his outfit to solicit help from industries in Tema have yielded no results when health should have been a priority issue for these industrial entities especially when the community is at the receiving end of their pollution.
Dr. Donkor made this known on the sidelines of a performance review workshop of the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate for the year 2018.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the medical administrator reacted to the bizarre nature of the health situation in Tema Newtown, by saying, “It looks like the Tema Newtown Community is neglected. There’s a lot of work to be done and the industries are not helping.”
Dr. Donkor observed that the neglect could stem from the fact that the industry operators might be thinking that the people of Tema Newtown could access the services of Tema General Hospital.
“But bear in mind that, with health, time is of essence, and in some cases those involved would have to be attended to quickly in order to save their lives, “ he said.
Dr. Donkor said, Tema Newtown needed a bigger and more sophisticated health facility because its population is huge, hinting that the facility is always crowded, with the limited number of staff busily dealing with issues of the adolescent, mothers, babies etc.
“And so a modern and bigger facility would solve their problems and improve the health of the people in the community,” he said.
He said the facility needs more staff because their limited number means that their efforts are over stretched which affects their performance and the ultimate health delivery within the Tema Newtown community.
He observed that currently teenage pregnancy is high in Tema Newtown and general adherence to family planning methods is a big issue, and therefore the need for them to organize more educational programmes to sensitize them regarding healthy life practices.
He concluded by saying, “We are doing a lot of work and a bigger and better health facility would help improve health delivery for the people of Tema Newtown.”
He advised the people of Tema Newtown to help themselves by heeding to the advice of local health workers as they assist them to skip the hurdles of multiple health and socio economic problems in their community.
Source: GNA