Kosmos Energy Ghana (KEG), a deepwater exploration and production company, has handed over a well-equipped newly built school clinic to Senya Senior High School in the Awutu Senya District in the Central Region.

The facility is expected to benefit more than 1,540 students and 110 teaching and non-teaching staff of the school.

The fully air-conditioned facility is equipped with supplies such as four new modern hospital beds, each with side cabinets and oximeters.

The equipment also includes two non-contact infrared thermometers, two weight scales, first aid boxes and 20 packs of disposable gloves.

The rest of the medical supplies are two BP monitors, four glucometers, two medicine cabinets, ward nurses cabinets, a three-deck trolley, a fourfold screen, an examination couch, chairs for nurses and patients, a wheelchair, disposable syringes and a table to facilitate the work of staff.

At the handover ceremony, the Senior Vice-President and Head of Ghana Business Unit of Kosmos Energy Ghana, Joe Mensah, stated that prior to the handing over of the clinic, the company had donated 3,200 mono-desks to four senior high schools in the Northern, Greater Accra and Volta regions.

Kosmos Energy Ghana, he added, decided to expand its humanitarian support programme to the Central Region in the belief that the government could not do it all.

“Kosmos Energy selected Senya Senior High School in the Awutu Senya for support after a careful review of the needs presented by the management of the school.

We at Kosmos Energy agreed to build a clinic for the school and stock it with essential medical supplies to serve the needs of the students,” Mr Mensah said. 

He expressed the belief that the new facility would not only enable the school to provide timely first aid to students, but it would also provide a safe isolation facility to prevent the spread of any communicable diseases that may occur.

Mr Mensah said the Kosmos Energy Ghana Humanitarian Relief Initiative began in 2022, with a focus on schools with special needs.

“It has supported four schools that cover children with special needs in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti and Northern regions,” he explained.

Anxious wait over

The Headmaster of the school, Ebenezer Nana Wilson, said during emergencies, especially at night, skeletal staff on campus had to wait anxiously for tricycle (Pragya) to carry a sick student to the hospital.

The fully furnished clinic

 The support by Kosmos Energy, he said, was not just important but a lifeline, which would go a long way to support the school to attend to the needs of the students.

Mr Wilson added that the school lacked basic infrastructure, saying “students population in our boarding house has increased, hence the urgent need for additional facilities for both boys and girls.”

The Central Regional Director of Education, Emmanuel Essuman, said “Health and education are intrinsically linked; when our students are healthy, they are better equipped to learn, thrive and achieve their fullest potential.”

Mr Essuman commended Kosmos Energy and gave the assurance that the clinic would serve as a safe space where students could receive immediate medical attention, guidance and support, urging medical professionals who would be managing the clinic to employ compassion, and commitment to the well-being of the students.

Also present at the handing over ceremony was the Member of Parliament for the area, Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui.