The Akatsi South Municipal Hospital in the Akatsi South constituency of the Volta Region is in a dilapidated state and requires immediate attention.
The roof of the wards leaks badly any time it rains, and this compels hospital authorities to move the beds in different directions, transfer patients to a different ward, and treat patients under trees if the need arises.
The bad state of the facility has become a source of worry for health workers in the municipal hospital, and many of them expressed worries over the poor state of the facility, which they said has remained a death trap.
Some nurses who spoke with the media stated that the authorities had played little role in developing the facility and government’s neglect of the Major Municipal hospital project initiated under leadership of the H.E John Dramani Mahama led NDC government that is about 90% complete for over 6 years now has compounded the problem and the safety of the staff in the old structure comes with daily occupational hazards.
Checks have revealed that many of the wards are without electrical power, and a visit to the hospital last night saw many pregnant women and emergency cases being transferred to hospitals outside the municipality putting the lives of constituents at risk.
But a statement signed by the CK Emmanuel Tordzro-led Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Akatsi Branch, noted that the lives of its members are also at risk if nurses and midwives continue to render uninterrupted service in spite of the
unsafe working environment and constraints, which are detrimental to their physical and psychosocial wellbeing.
It will interest you to note that nurses and midwives face several environmental hazards in the course of their duty, ranging from electrical spikes to fire outbreaks and exposure to bad weather conditions, they noted.
In one of such instances, on March 26, 2022, the theater was gutted by fire and totally burned down.
Similarly, on April 27, 2023, many of the wards were flooded and ceilings were leaking amidst faulty electrical cables following a heavy downpour, they added.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW.