Shortage of drugs hit Ampain Refugee Camp in Ellembelle

The medical facility at Ampain Refugee Camp responsible for addressing the health needs of Ivorian Refugees in the Ellembelle District of Western Region has been struggling with shortage of drugs.

The drug unit of the medical facility, according to the leader of the Refugees appears to have run dry following constant demand that appears to exceed supply.

Consequently, the medical facility has not been able to offer quality health service to Refugees living at the camp following the absence of essential drugs.

Koue Hermann, leader of the Refugees made this stunning revelation during the observation of World Tourism Day organized at the Refugee Camp over the weekend.

Corroborating his revelation, managers of the clinic who are providing healthcare to hundreds of camp members said the situation has hampered quality health service delivery at the facility.

The camp, which was established in 2009 following political crisis in Ivory Coast which forced many Ivorians to flee their country to Ghana necessitated the setting up of the camp.

However, recently, there have been complaints of shortage of drugs confronting operations of the medical facility and the leader of the Refugees who confirmed these complaints eventually let the cut out of the bag.

But, members of the Samuel Amo Tobbin Foundation who were present at the camp to grace the celebration of the World's Refugees Day, immediately responded positively to the complaints made by the leader of the Refugees.

The Foundation offered drugs, assorted food items and consumables worth one hundred thousand Ghana cedis to the camp.

Executive Director of the Foundation, Harriet N. Asante, who made the donation on behalf of the Foundation, explained that the gesture formed part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the Tobinco group of companies.

She said the number of companies working under the group, obviously recognized the significance of the Refugee camp, and dedicated part of their resources into supporting the Refugees to access quality health care and be able to live better.

She said the donation will not be the first and last, but will certainly open up new windows of opportunities for the Foundation to continue to assist the Refugee camp.

"This is an over 100,000 Ghana cedi's donation made up of toiletries, drugs, food items presented to the Refugee camp. We hope that it will assist the camp address the drug shortage", she opined.

"We have added more malaria drugs because we know that malaria is often the commonest disease troubling our communities", she added

Patricia Opomea, Senior Physician Assistant at the Ampain Refugee Camp who received the donation on behalf of the clinic, thanked management of Tobinco group for donating the items to the facility to continue to offer quality health care to the Refugees.

She commended Samuel Amo Tobbin Foundation, the umbrella organization that represented the Tobinco group for thinking about of the Refugees and responding timely to the complaints against shortage of drugs at the facility.

On his part, the Chief of Ampain, Nana Nyameke Fofole II expressed his profound gratitude to the Samuel Amo Tobbin Foundation for the kind gesture adding that the donation will go a long way to address the drug shortage at the Camp.

He, therefore, advised the management of the facility to take good care of the drugs to achieve its intended purposes.

He also seized the opportunity to opportunity to appeal to other benevolent organisations to assist the facility.