[ 2014-09-30 ]

Seven communities denied healthcare in Upper-Manya Krobo
Asesewa(E/R), Sept. 29, GNA - Seven communities on
the Volta Lake islands in the Upper-Manya Krobo
District have no access to health care because the
boat used by Ghana Health Service to offer
outreach service to them has broken down.

People in those community as a result only have
access to healthcare when they travel on
commercial boats on market days to Akateng,
Sekesua and Asesewa, leaving some people
especially pregnant women to their fate.

The GNA Media Auditing and Tracking of Development
Project, being sponsored by STAR-Ghana to help
speed up community development and participatory
democracy, gathered that for the past nine months,
the boat had not worked leading to low attendance
to ante-natal clinics and supervised deliveries in
those communities.

An opinion leader from one of the communities who
spoke to the GNA team on condition of anonymity,
said some pregnant women who wanted medical care
had to relocate to Asesewa or other communities
and stayed with relatives to enable them to have
access to health facilities.

He said the situation was worrying since one could
only get means of transport during market days
when the commercial boats plied the lake and
appealed for help to forestall emergencies.

Mrs Sarah Donkor, District Director of Health
Services, when contacted by the GNA team,
confirmed the story and disclosed that the boat
developed leakages making it dangerous to be used
on the lake.

Mrs Donkor said due to this development, the
District Health Directorate had not been able to
reach out to those seven communities on the lake
which is a real cause for concern.

She appealed to the assembly and other
well-meaning Ghanaians to come to their aid.

She said the directorate was cash-trapped to go in
for a rented boat to conduct their activities but
indicated that efforts were being made to put the
boat back on the lake since the outboard motor was
in good condition.

Source - GNA

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