A GH¢4 million 48-bed capacity maternity health centre has been handed over to the St. Lucas Hospital at Wiaga in the Upper East Region.
It is equipped with a theatre, beds, and Neonetal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) labour, to exclusively serve women and children
The facility is a gift by the Chief Executive Officer of Plans Construction Limited, Mr Clement Akapame, as part of his corporate social responsibility of giving back to the society.
He said the gesture was born out of his insatiable love to give facelift to humanity.
According to him, building of the facility was in honour of Reverend Philippe Marneffe, a missionary from France who pioneered the provision of health services at Wiaga and its surrounding villages decades ago.
“I feel and share the pain people in this part of the region go through when it comes to accessing the healthcare. The health issue here is critical, and I decided to throw a challenge to myself that, as a son of Builsa, I must intervene to reduce the health needs of the people.
“And of course, I feel satisfied for putting smiles on people’s faces. At least, I am relieved, I am elated for reducing somebody’s suffering”, Mr Akapame remarked.
Mr Akapame hinted that he had plans to furnish the newly
constructed edifice with incubators and other medical consumables that would befit the status of the hospital, and charged management and the community leaders to take good care of the facility.
He showered praises on the Catholic Church over the invaluable contributions toward helping the government to address the health and educational needs of the people in Upper East Region and the country as a whole.
The Medical Director (MD) for the St. Lucas Catholic Hospital, Dr Kennedy Ngaaso, thanked Mr Akapame and his family for the 48-capacity bed hospital.
In an address delivered on his behalf, Dr Ngaaso said “As management of the hospital, we assure him of proper maintenance of the edifice and to give off our best to promote health care among mothers and their children”.
Dr Ngaaso said the facility established 75 years ago metamorphosed into a fully- fledged hospital just years ago, and had been confronted with a myriad of challenges; notably limited capacity of the paediatric ward, inadequate delivery beds among others.
The Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, Most Rev. Alfred Agyenta, described it as monumental that continued support, being rendered to the diocese by Mr Akapame and his family.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, WIAGA
