Residents of Manwe in the Wa East District have expressed concern about the state of their only Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), which serves as the primary healthcare facility for over three thousand people in the area.
Speaking Info Radio in Manwe last Friday, Mr Adams Iddrisu, the assembly member for the Manwe Electoral Area, urged the government to convert the CHPS compound into a health centre.
According to him, the population of the community is making it difficult for healthcare providers to deliver adequate services.
“I stated that we have a CHPS compound from the beginning but I told you the population of the community, the number of communities surrounding us and when you look at it we have outweighed the CHPS compound.
“We are supposed to have a health centre or clinic and that would minimize some of the health challenges we are facing in this community.”
He explained that anytime the nurses want to do baby weighing, they have to go to the community centre and leave the CHPS compound empty. This according to him makes it difficult for them to attend to sick persons during that time.
He stated that although they have made several appeals to the government to upgrade the CHPS compound, they were yet to see any positive response.
Mr Zakaria Saeed, a resident, bemoaned the state of healthcare in the community. He recounted the many projects the community has undertaken through their contributions to improve the state of the CHPS compound. He appealed to the government to upgrade the facility into a health centre.
"When the government provided us with this healthcare facility, they mentioned that the community also has some responsibilities. We hoped that the facility would expand and be upgraded. The delivery ward was constructed with our contributions. Furthermore, the community built a structure to provide shade for the nurses and patients who visit the facility."
"We also pooled money to purchase cement and plaster the entire floor of the facility. Currently, the community is in the process of building a four-unit housing for the nurses, which has reached the lintel level," he added.
Meanwhile, the District Chief Executive for Wa East, Dr. Mahama Sulemani Kandia Edwurah, mentioned that the concerns are genuine and have come to the notice of the assembly.
He explained that the assembly currently does not have the resources to grant the community’s request. He noted that the assembly will upgrade the facility when resources are available.
He, however, commended the community for taking up the responsibility of constructing some infrastructure to support the current infrastructure at the CHPS compound.
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