Tongo Health facility receives assorted medical equipments worth 35,000 dollars

Some medical items on display

Mr Bananzi and Wife presenting the medical item to the DCE

DCE for Talensi handing over the items to the Reg Dir of Health

The Tongo Health centre in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region has received assorted quality medical equipments worth 35,000 dollars to help improve health care delivery in the district. Among the items presented include Mammography unit, Pentax scope, Theatre table and accessories, crutches, wheel chairs, anesthesia machines and x-ray lights and cassette among others. Receiving the items, the District Director of Health Services (DDHS), Rosemond Azure said the donation of the equipments has come at no better time than now as management of the facility is finalizing moves to give it a facelift. The equipment, she further noted, will support the health centre to be upgraded into the status of a district hospital. It will also go a long way to improve quality health service delivery in the beneficiary communities since the facility is still faced with limited medical equipment to respond to the ever increasing OPD attendance recorded daily at the facility. Asked whether the equipment could be properly utilized  by staff of the facility, Mrs. Azure replied that experts from the Regional Health Directorate were going to be engaged to give staff the needed technical knowhow on the usage of equipments especially, the modern ones.  The Deputy Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr. Bernard Bananzi, who is the donor, presented the items to the management of the facility through the District Chief Executive, Vivian Anarfo at a short ceremony held at the centre. He was supported by the wife, a nurse by profession. Mr. Bananzi who is a native of the district said the donation which is being made possible through the support of some international donor agencies and close relatives forms part of his resolve to give back to the community.  He mentioned the Council of International Programmes (CIP) as one of the financiers of the gesture. According to Mr. Bananzi the donation of the equipments became necessary having realized the problems confronting the facility. He said following constant lobbying and appeals made to some individuals and donors, he was able to acquire the equipment with the support of one Mark Poeppelman and Mr. Bahram Hashemi both in Ohio State Hospital in the United States. He took the opportunity to commend some individuals and NGOs in the district for their diverse support and appealed to the hospital to inculcate the habit of regular maintenance to prolong the life span of the equipment. The Medical Assistant at the Tongo Health Centre, Mathew Adam and the DCE thanked Mr. Bananzi and the wife for their show of concern and urged other institutions and individuals to assist in that regard. The facility, they assured will be properly taken care of. The DCE in an interview with Radio Ghana said the assembly is putting in measures to ensure that the facility is refurbished and expanded to befit the status of a district hospital.

GBC                                                                 END                                                                  IA/