Kumawu Polyclinic suspends emergency services following roof rip-off

Residents living in and around Kumawu in the Sekyere Kumawu District of the Ashanti Region will have to travel all the way to Effiduase and Asante Akyem Agogo to access emergency healthcare.

This is because the entire roof of the Kumawu Polyclinic has been ripped off following a heavy rainfall Monday dawn.

Caesarean Section, intensive healthcare and other emergency services are suspended due to the situation.

The heavy storm, which preceded the downpour, damaged office equipment such as computers, folders, gauze, needle and other medical equipment.

Speaking on Akoma FM‘s morning show GhanAkoma, Medical Superintendent Dr. Alex Agbanu told host Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that at least the cost of damage, for now, is a little over GH¢11, 000 minus the cost of the roofing sheets and other major damages.

Dr. Agbanu, who looked helpless, added that “all emergency cases are suspended and such cases would be referred to nearby Effiduase and Agogo hospitals, hence cases such as Caesarean sections, surgeries and other cases are suspended”.

“However, OPD cases and minor cases will be attended to but until the roof is fixed and our spoilt equipment restored, the situation will be dire.”

Meanwhile, District Chief Executive for Sekyere Kumawu Samuel Addai Agyekum assured of swift intervention as he explained that “as I speak, carpenters are working on the project so, by Monday, we will be done with the renovation to restore suspended works on the Kumawu Polyclinic”.

Until the ripped-off roofing is restored, emergency health cases are suspended.

The situation brings to the fore the slow pace of work on the 120-bed capacity Kumawu District Hospital project, which has missed deadlines.

If the ongoing hospital had been completed, the suspension of emergency cases would have been a thing of the past and the district hospital would have been a timely intervention.