Reptiles And Weeds Take Over $860,000 Digital Health Centre In Volta Region

An $860,000 digital village project comprising a solar-powered library and a health facility, has been abandoned and taken over by weeds after it was handed over by the lead sponsor Samsung and UNESCO to the government in 2015.

The facility, located at Volo, a fishing community in the North Tongu district of the Volta Region, was to among other things serve the educational and health needs of the over 5,000 people of that community and surrounding areas.

However, following a formal ceremony to hand it over to the community, the facility and its content appear to have been left to rot.

The compound is overgrown with weeds, with reptiles making use of the equipment on site.

A nurse and health blogger, Kobby Blay, told citifmonline.com that the facility had “almost every tool and equipment to provide from primary to secondary healthcare services to the people in the community.”

In a review of the facility after more than 12 months after its been completed, he found that, the “whole facility was under lock, some consumables expired already, with others losing form and quality.

The facility is located on the same compound with the community's old and under-resourced CHPS center which is challenged with space and logistics.

Construction work began in 2014, and work was completed and handed over to the government in May 2015.

See photos below:

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said the current state of the facility is due to the absence of medical staff.

He said authorities found it difficult to attract staff to serve at the facility especially because accommodation was not readily available for them.

Construction work began in 2014, and work was completed and handed over to the government in May 2015.

Citi FM has put the spotlight on several health facilities that have either been fully or partially completed, but are not fully functional.

A typical examples is the $217 million University of Ghana Medical Centre , the first phase of which has been completed, but the facility is not in use due a tussle between the school and the Health Ministry over who should manage it.