Authorities at the Tafo Government Hospital in the Tafo Municipality in Ashanti Region are appealing to the government to immediately intervene in the completion of an abandoned maternity block in the facility.
The project, which was started by the J.A Kufuor administration, expected to provide enough accommodation or space for patients but it has been left to rot whilst patients struggle for space.
When sod was cut in 2003 for the construction of the maternity block complex at the Tafo Government Hospital, staff and other health workers as well as patients of the facility heaved a sigh of relief as it was anticipated that the increasing congestion was soon going to be over in the facility.
But after ten years of snail-pace progress of work, the facility has since 2008 been abandoned with the contractor, Connie Contractor Limited, citing lack of funds as the main reason.
That is the fate of the imposing maternity complex at the Tafo Government Hospital, which serves as one of the major health centres for people living in the Western part of the city of Kumasi and beyond.
The abandoned facility, expected to benefit other health centres, and thus help reduce work load on Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, was originally billed to contain a 60-bed maternity and children’s ward, an ultra-modern conference centre, a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical centre, and an out-patient’s department, as a means of solving patient overcrowding and enhance healthcare delivery.
Officials at the Tafo Hospital say they are being compelled to refer patients to other hospitals due to lack of space to accommodate patients.
The situation, according to these officials, was being compounded by the daily increases in the admission of new patients to the facility.
The project is currently in deteriorating state.
Unused building materials have been left to the mercy of the rain while weeds have engulfed the abandoned project in the hospital.
The project is near completion but it has been abandoned in the bush since 2008.
The hospital currently lacks space to accommodate patients .
Patients are being treated on corridors of the facility due to lack of space whilst males and females share ward at the emergency and other units of the facility.
Speaking in an interview with 3news.com, the Medical Superintendent of the Tafo Government Hospital, Dr Kwame Agyemang, said the situation in the hospital was being compounded by the daily increases in the admission of patients.
According to him, management was sometimes compelled to refer patients to other medical centres because of lack of space.
“I wonder why such a laudable project could be left at the mercy of the sun and rains, a huge sum of money has been invested so far, and it is very bad that the government has not given it any serious attention,” he stated.
He expressed worry about the government’s inability to complete such an important project.
He appealed to the government and other organizations to help complete the project to reduce congestion in the facility.
By Benjamin Aidoo|3news.com|Ghana