Rainstorm destroys property at Bolga Hospital

Bolgatanga, April 1, GNA - A severe storm that hit the Bolgatanga Municipality and its environs on Monday evening destroyed most residential facilities of the Regional Health Services rendering most of the staff homeless.

The Regional Director of Health Service, Dr. Joseph Amankwa, estimated property destroyed to about 500 million cedis in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga on Wednesday. He said the affected staff and their families were putting up temporarily with friends and relatives, adding that the hospital administration was confronted with the problem of funding to immediately rehabilitate the structures to house the workers.

He said seven semi-detached Low Cost Houses (LCH) and a Junior Staff Quarters at Zaare, as well as a bungalow at Soe, had their roofs ripped off while most of them had structural defects. The Family Planning block at the Bolgatanga Hospital was also damaged by the storm. Dr. Amankwa said the structures needed re-roofing but that the Health Directorate could not meet the cost involved. He made an appeal to the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to come to the aid of the hospital.

The rainstorm, which was the first of its kind in 2004, also destroyed structures in other parts of the Municipality. Most of the structures affected were kiosks, houses and the Anglican Church building but no casualty was reported. Accompanied by a team of newsmen, the Special Assistant to the Regional Minister, Mr. Paul Allor, toured some of the affected areas in the Bolgatanga Township on Wednesday to assess the extent of damage and to sympathise with the victims.