Residents of the Tindonsobligo community in the Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region, have embarked on a local funds mobilization to pay for the cost of extending electricity power to their Community-based Health Planning Service compound (CHPS).
The community’s only primary health care facility was built some six years ago without being connected to the national grid. Unfortunately, the facility has remained without electricity power and despite their pleas to the local authority to get them connected, the situation has not changed.
In the community’s quest to solve this problem, the community leaders started a fund raising exercise ahead of the 2019 Christmas festivities and raised an amount of GHc3000 to fund the extension of electricity power to the Tindonsobligo CHPS compound as soon as possible.
Lack of the requisite medication and equipment are also major challenges facing the CHPS compound, aside the absence of staff accommodation close to the facility.
A Community Health Nurse, Rahinatu Seidu who spoke with this reporter during a recent visit to the facility said, the absence of electricity in the facility is a big challenge hindering the work of health personnel and wished the connection can be done as soon as possible to help them improve on their service to the clients.
When patients visit the health facility in the night with complication, the nurses on duty have had to use the light on their mobile phones and torch light, many of them are not bright enough to serve the purpose.
Per the Community-based Health Planning Service compound (CHPS) policy, the health workers manning the CHPS compound are supposed to be living in the facility or very close so as to available anytime a client visit the facility.
Unfortunately, the Tindonsobligo CHPS compound cannot boast of staff accomodation at the facility nor close to the facility, which has to be addressed to bring the facility to standard.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Tindonsobligo