Authorities Say 'No Bedbugs' At Effia-Nkwanta Hospital

The management of Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi has refuted reports that expectant mothers who attended the hospital were referred to other health facilities in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis because the labour ward of the hospital was infested with bedbugs and mice.

Some residents in the metropolis who called into some radio stations in the area yesterday alleged that pregnant women on admission at the only referral hospital in the Western Region were sent home.

They also asserted that other expectant mothers who called at the hospital were referred to other hospitals so that the labour ward of the regional hospital could be fumigated because it was infested with bedbugs.

However, speaking to DAILY GUIDE in an interview, the administrator of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, K.K. Boakye, denied the report, indicating that there was a fumigation exercise.

He explained that the fumigating the ward is a routine exercise undertaken by the hospital from time to time, adding, “We embark on such fumigation exercise every three months.”

“So about two weeks ago, we gave the contract out and currently the contractor is doing his work and so the story out there is not true so just ignore it,” Mr Boakye disclosed.

Meanwhile, some residents have indicated that the regional hospital's neonatal care unit needs structural improvement.

According them, the facility does not have a resting place for family members and friends who accompany their sick relatives to the hospital and many of them have to sleep at unpleasant environments at the hospital.

They revealed that most of the equipment currently in the facility are out of date and need improvement in its present condition.

The former Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Paapa Owusu-Ankomah, donated GH¢100,000 from his common fund to initiate a care-givers' hostel for the hospital.

However, years after some blocks were laid, work on the hostel had stalled but a source at the hospital assured that the hostel would soon be given a new life.