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The Yilo Krobo District Hospital in the Eastern Region, which has been idle since June 2021, has begun operation.
The 80-bed facility, which was awarded to VAMED Construction Company by the Ministry of Health, was handed over to the government in June 2021.
However, the lack of water, among other challenges, delayed its operation until the last week of April this year.
The facility, with state-of-the-art equipment, has a fully furnished obstetrics and gynaecology, neonatal intensive care, rehabilitation and public health care, as well as outpatient and emergency units.
In addition, the hospital has a laboratory and pharmacy, imaging (X-ray, sonography, and echocardiography) units and also provides maternity and mortuary services. It also has a wellness clinic.
According to management, even though 102 staff members had been posted to man the facility when in full operation, it was currently operating an outpatient department (OPD) with only 25 of the staff, including two medical officers, one obstetrician gynaecologist and one physician assistant.
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr (Mrs)Francesca Mensah Darkwah, together with the Hospital Administrator, Ms Belinda Kafui Wuttor, who took the Daily Graphic reporter around the departments and the units of the facility, explained that the facility had taken off gradually and would continue to expand to other departments as and when necessary.
"Even though we have 102 staff members, majority of them are in other sister health facilities and would be relocated to us here when we need them. In the meantime, they are working in the same health service but in different facilities even though they are staff members here,’’ the medical superintendent said.
The medical superintendent said the Yilo Krobo Municipality had hitherto only a polyclinic, which was woefully inadequate due to the huge population in the area.
As a result, she said most of the citizens from the area sought for medical treatment at the Atua Government Hospital and Saint Martin de Porres Catholic Hospital, both in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality.
Dr (Mrs) Mensah Darkwah emphasised that teamwork was everything and that management was going to motivate the workers to give off their best.
The medical superintendent said the name “Yilo Krobo District Hospital’’ was generating some controversies as Yilo Krobo had attained a municipal status.
She explained that even the name was changed from Somanya District Hospital to Yilo Krobo District Hospital when it was going to be handed over to the Ghana Health Service last year.
She gave an assurance that management would later take up the issue with the name, go through the process to change it to Yilo Krobo Government Hospital to avoid all the confusions associated with the current name.
For her part, Ms Wuttor said with the serene environment and the quality, as well as the friendly nature of health workers posted to the facility, the facility, was poised to provide unmatched medical care which was designed to address the healthcare needs of individuals, as well as groups, within the Yilo Krobo community and beyond.
“Even if you are not sick, you can visit the wellness clinic within the hospital and check your temperature and your blood pressure so that if you have a challenge in these two areas, you can seek for medical advice,” the administrator advised.
