The Bongo District Hospital mortuary
Even before the implementation of the ‘$1million, one constituency’ initiative by the ruling New Patriotic Party takes effect, the Bongo District Chief Executive (DCE), Peter Ayimbisa, has mentioned that a large portion of the District Common Fund (DCF) will be used to construct a modern mortuary facility for the Bongo District Hospital.
The announcement has brought some excitement to many residents of the district, especially those living and working around the Bongo District Hospital for years.
Mr Ayimbisa made the announcement at a town hall meeting in Bongo in the Upper East Region. The Bongo District Assembly is the first to hold the meeting in the region this year.
The DCE explained that the current state of the hospital’s mortuary is not just below its status, but an embarrassment and a danger to public health.
Mr Ayimbisa registered his displeasure with the former DCE for district for ignoring the worsening plight of the hospital and promised that the situation would be addressed.
“We have lived in this district for years; governments have come and gone and nothing is done about the mortuary. No attempt by previous government has been made to get this facility in place. As we sit here, Honourable Regional Minister, God forbid, in the unlikely event that something happens to you, you would not have any mortuary facility,” Mr Ayimbisa bemoaned.
For years, the Bongo District Hospital has been keeping dead bodies in a dilapidated kiosk-like structure which is haphazardly made with aluminium roofing sheets. The aluminium sheets around the mortuary are fast rusting, thereby, creating holes on the surfaces. The holes have also become passages for flies and reptiles.
The flies hover and buzz around the mortuary and end up settling on food and other items displayed by vendors around the hospital.
Hospital authorities have, on countless occasions, also complained bitterly about the dangers the structure poses to the public, patients and staff of the facility, but to no avail.
Apart from the mortuary, the Bongo District Assembly, according to Mr Ayimbisa, will also spend some of the $1million on rehabilitating some existing roads and create some new ones to open the district up for development.
According to him, the creation of new roads and rehabilitation of existing ones are in line with preparations towards the implementation of the government’s ‘one district, one factory’, ‘planting for food and jobs’ and ‘one village, one dam’ programmes.
Presenting a keynote address at the town hall meeting, the Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Bukari, called on the people of the district and the Upper East Region as a whole to support the government by also honouring their tax and levy obligations and protect projects provided by the central government and the district assemblies.
From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bongo