Bad road hampering healthcare delivery

The poor road network in the Atwima Kwanwoma District in the Ashanti Region has put the health of many people in the community at risk.

This has also been compounded by the decision of most commercial drivers not to ply the routes. Those who chose to provide their services charged exorbitant fares beyond the means of patients and women in labour.

More threatening is the fact that there is no district referral hospital as well as an ambulance to transport patients in critical conditions to the nearest health centre in Kumasi or nearby districts.

The District Director of Health Services, Madam Dorothy Afoakwa, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at Foase, the district capital after a sod was cut for the construction of a theatre and a new senior high school. 

Mrs Afoakwah, who enumerated the challenges confronting healthcare delivery in the area, explained that due to the non-availability of a hospital in the district, health personnel were compelled to refer all serious ailments to either Kumasi or any other district where they could get doctors to attend to them. 

The situation, she said, had worsened for most dwellers in the remotest parts of the district who had to walk long distances before having access to health facilities.

Inadequate health personnel

The district, with a population of 100,826, has four physician assistants, five government health facilities, one Christian Health Association facility and two private health centres.

She, therefore, appealed to the government as a matter of urgency, to come to the aid of the people by constructing the road to save the people from the current hardships that they were going through.

What makes the situation more serious ,she added, was the refusal of some of the drivers to go to some communities due to the state of roads in those areas.

The youth of Foase recently demonstrated against the poor state of roads in the district which had made most drivers withdraw their services from the area.