Prudent Decision

The people of the Northern Region in general and Tamale in particular have been crying for the rehabilitation of the Tamale Teaching Hospital for many years now.

The hospital was upgraded into a teaching hospital to provide the facilities for teaching and research for students of the University for Development Studies (UDS) undertaking studies in medicine and its related programmes.

The facility, which is the major referral hospital serving the three northern regions, has, by accident or design, been left to deteriorate.

Reports have it that since the construction of the hospital in 1974, there has not been any comprehensive rehabilitation of the facility, leading to the present deterioration of equipment and physical structures, some of which have developed deep cracks and leaking roofs.

Although administrators of health facilities are doing their best within limited budgetary constraints to keep the facilities functional, many of our health institutions require major rehabilitation now.

Time and again our governments have assured us of their readiness to rehabilitate the Tamale Teaching Hospital and in some cases they have disclosed the amount of money earmarked for the project.

The DAILY GRAPHIC is happy that the government has approved 39 million euros for the rehabilitation of the teaching hospital.

The project, which is set to take off by December this year, will include the reconstruction of some parts of the hospital in order to expand the facilities for the growing population of the three northern regions.

We commend the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, for his personal commitment to the rehabilitation project and hope that he will crack the whip in case some of the officials of the ministry and the Ghana Health Service attempt to delay its implementation.

The pledge by the government will be received with cautious optimism by the people of the three northern regions because of the inability of pastgovernments in fulfilling similar pledges.

If for reasons beyond our control we cannot provide health facilities at the doorstep of the people in the north, we should do well to maintain the facilities at our disposal for the good of the people.

Our health facilities cannot be said to be evenly spread across the country but what we have can meet the primary and tertiary health needs of our people if they are properly managed and maintained.

The facilities at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, if properly maintained and managed, can attract patients from Burkina Faso and beyond.

We, therefore, agree with Dr Yankey’s expectations when he said, “We want to make Ghana a medical tourism hub in West Africa in order to enable the sector to also generate enough foreign exchange for the country.”

The National Cardio-Thoracic Centre, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital, all in Accra, as well as the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, are health facilities that cater for the health needs of clients not only in Ghana but in the West African sub-region and beyond.

The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the government to put in extra effort to bring our health facilities to the standards pertaining elsewhere in the world.

The success of the National Health Insurance Scheme lies in the readiness of our health facilities to deliver to the expectation of premium holders.