Barring any last-minute hitches, the Drobonso Agenda 111 Hospital, with residential staff housing would be commissioned to enhance healthcare delivery in the Sekyere Afram Plains District Assembly (SAPDA) of the Ashanti region.
Located at the district capital of Drobonso, the ultra-modern 40-bed health infrastructure, which is being executed by Vamed Engineering GmbH is made up of Outpatient Department (OPD), consulting rooms, pharmacy, surgical unit, pediatric unit, theatre, mortuary and pathology, staff quarters, 300 KV power plant and security post, among others.
Furnished with gadgets, the walkways at the facility have been done with pavement bricks for easy movement.
Addressing the media at the facility, the Ashanti regional minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, who was on a working visit in the SAPDA, to inspect government projects in the said area, expressed satisfaction at the project.
Describing the unique nature of Agenda 111 health infrastructure in the farming enclave of Sekyere Afram Plains, Mr Osei-Mensah said “As you entered, you can attest that the facility is very neat and completed with pathways laid with pavement bricks and by the grace of God, very soon, residents of Drobonso will have their modern hospital ready. Per the serene environment, when you visit such a facility for healthcare, you get healed easily.”
He expressed appreciation to the Vanaah Contractor who executed the project, explaining that they have done a great job, in that they have completed five hospitals that were awarded to them in the region, naming Drobonso, Sabronum (Ahafo Ano South-East), Twedie (Atwima Kwawoma), Suame (Suame Municipality) and Manso Nkwanta (Amansie West).
Speaking to the media, the Vamed Engineering GmbH Supervisor on site, Ing Emanuel Achille disclosed that the Sekyere Afram Plains Hospital is 98 percent complete, adding that as of last week, the Ministry of Health (MoH) inspected the facility and added that they are waiting to hand over the facility to the MoH, latest by December.
Achille mentioned some of the components as pharmacy, sterilisation room, X-ray, theatre, kitchen and staff quarters, among others.
INHERITED PROJECTS
On the health projects that the current government inherited from the previous administration, the Ashanti regional minister noted that they have not neglected them.
“One thing I have realised with this government is that we have tried to complete projects we inherited. If you look at the hospitals we came to meet, numbering around eight, we have completed most of them.”
He told the media that the current administration has completed health facilities, citing Tepa Konongo, Fomena and Kumawu as prime examples.
To Mr Osei-Mensah, the 500-bed Ashanti Regional Hospital, which is located at Sewua, in the Bosomtwe district of the region, would be commissioned soon.
“What we have not completed is Sewua and with that one, latest by October, it would be commissioned because everything is set and the Contractor has given us one month, and if he fulfills his promise, then it would be completed by one month time. The ECG substation, which was a problem, has been solved.
On the reconstruction of the Komfo Anokye Maternity Block, Mr Osei-Mensah, who is the former member of Parliament for Bosomtwe and former member of the Economic Committee of West Africa State (ECOWAS) Parliament in Abuja, Nigeria, disclosed to the media that the said project could not be completed by the end of the year.
“I am not sure the Komfo Anokye Maternity Block can be completed. That project started in the erstwhile administration of Kutu Acheampong, so for over forty years it has not been completed. The project failed the structural integrity test we conducted, so we had to demolish it and restart it.”
Giving details about the rate of work on the infrastructure, the Ashanti region minister indicated that the contractor is done with the civil and electrical works and they are now laying pipes, doubting it could be completed on time.
“I am not too sure it works, like installation of equipment can be met for commissioning, but even if we are unable to do that, we have done well. On the 500-bed Afari Military Hospital Infrastructure,” the regional minister revealed to the media that the government could conduct partial commissioning, undergirded by the fact that the main hospital has been completed, adding that it is only left with a few specialised departments that have to be worked on.
He added that all equipment has a guarantee period, and if they expire, it would be rendered unusable.
“It is left with some few specialised departments that we have to work on, and all the equipment has a warranty period, and if we wait till this department is completed, the equipment could expire its warranty period.
“If the warranty period expires and the gadgets are tested but turn out to be defective, you cannot take them back and the nation has to fork out other funds to purchase new ones, and we cannot do that, so we have to do a partial commission and the small area that is left would be worked on.
DROBONSO DISTRICT COURT
Prior to his visit to the 40-bed health infrastructure at Drobonso, the Ashanti regional minister and his team visited the Drobonso District Court facility, which was commissioned last year by himself and former Chief Justice Annin Yeboah.
According to Mr Osei-Mensah, having commissioned the court facility, he has not been able to see how the facility is faring, hence he had to come see how the court was being operated.
“Sometime last year, the former Chief Justice and I commissioned the court at the Sekyere Afram Plains, which is located at Drobonso and after the completion, I have not been able to see how the facility was being run, so I had to come and see how it was being operated.”
He continued that unfortunately, there are no residences for the magistrate, hence the judge commutes from Agona to the court, which is once a week, so the government, through the Sekyere Afram Plains District Assembly, is going to see to it that the resident is completed so that the judge can work on a number of days.
E-Block
The Ashanti regional minister and his team inspected the E-block project that is 7.5 kilometers away from the district capital of Drobonso and located at Issahkura, a sparsely populated enclave.
According to Osei-Mensah, the E-block is more than seven kilometers apart from the district capital, and imagine if the student is walking to school; it means the child is going to walk for more than 17 kilometers a day, a development he bemoaned that it does not enhance learning, saying “By the time the child accomplishes the task, the brain will be exhausted, so when you report home, you are tired and cannot even learn what you were taught in school.”
He disclosed to the media that in an attempt to utilise the educational project and curb the inconveniences associated with the facility, the government is putting up a boarding structure to complement it.
“We are adding a boarding facility to the school, but there has been a challenge, so I will engage the education minister about it, so that we can start admitting students into the facility.
Giving his candid opinion about the E-block, Osei-Mensah opined that per the location and proximity of the E-block to the district capital, it does not befit for second cycle education since it is located in a remote area that is sparsely populated. He subsequently called for the E-block infrastructure to be turned into something else.
“When I came here in 2017 to inspect the project, there has not been any change and it looks the same. For a perfect utilisation of the facility, it should be converted into the Agricultural Research Institute of the Agricultural and Environmental Research Institute – something that will see the elderly accessing the facility and not kids.”
He told the media, “If the school becomes operationalised, how will the day students go to school with this kind of road? The children cannot go to school when the river overflows its boundaries. So for me, I will still push for an agricultural and environmental research institute that can easily assist foreign support and then bring the children here.”
According to him, sometime in 2017, some parents did not allow their wards to be admitted to the school, having looked at the location of the school, adding that these students had to be re-admitted to different schools.
He continued that, with the E-block, the final decision rests with the Ministry of Education, so he will discuss it with the minister and if he finds it feasible, in that it can be converted into such a specialised institute, they will do it, and if the residents still feel they need the Senior High School, we can also use it as senior high school.
Mr Simon Osei-Mensah added, “But I do not understand why they did not site the school between the Drobonso and Kumawu stretch, citing the location of the Drobonso Hospital as a prime example.
“Drawing contrast between the Drobonso Government Hospital and the E-block in the bush, Osei-Mensah argued that health facilities can easily be accessed, unlike the latter. With the hospital, we have an easy access road and we have to make sure the E-block is useful.”
