Thursday, 28 March

Takyikrom: The village where 'doors' are used as 'ambulance' to transport pregnant women

Health News
Kweku Agyemang Manu, Health Minister

The Chief of Takyikrom in the Achiase District of the Eastern Region, Nana Nyarko, has given a worrying account of how expectant mothers in the area are carried on broken doors to access healthcare at the nearby Aprade community.

According to the chief, the Aprade community is about one mile from Takyikrom and pregnant women have to be carried on the shoulders of young men to access healthcare because of the lack of hospital facilities in the area coupled with bad roads.

He noted that anytime pregnant women are due, their husbands have to organise some young men for the door of a building to be collapsed for use as a platform to carry the expectant mother to the nearby town.

He added that this has been the norm in the area because the health centre put up by the community had two nurses who do not live in the area.

“So, when there are such issues in the night, carrying the expectant mothers is the only way out,” he said. 

Speaking on the plight of his people in an interview with Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra100.5FM’s morning show Ghana Yensom on Thursday, 16 March 2022, Nana Nyarko explained that the community, with about 500 residents, has no CHPS or healthcare facility.

He said the existing dilapidated healthcare centre is not fit for purpose even though it was put up by the community through communal labour.

“A land that has been made available to the Assembly for the construction of a CHPS centre is lying fallow,” he bemoaned.

He noted that the concerns of the people have been tabled before the Assembly but there has not been any proper response.

The Assemblyman for Aprade Electoral Area (Railways Station), Anaman Wilberforce corroborated the chief’s claims, adding that steps are being taken for the needs of the area to be addressed.

For his part, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Achiase District Assembly, Mr Richard Amponsah, noted that steps are being taken to address the problems of the area.

“It is in view of this that nurses are posted every week to the existing health centre even although it is not in the best of shape,” he admitted.

According to him, the Assembly is barely two years old, adding that steps are being taken to have some of these challenges in such areas addressed.

He advised expectant mothers in the area not to wait till they are due before heading to the nearby health centre to seek assistance.

He called on the chief and Assemblyman to desist from petty politicking and support the Assembly to deliver on its mandate.

 

 

 

Source: Classfmonline.com/cecil Mensah