We Would Rebuild Tamale Hospital - Mills

NDC Presidential Candidate, Prof Mills, has said that the renovation and turning the Tamale Hospital into a first class medical facility was high on the agenda of the NDC and would have been completed years ago had the NDC been retained in the 2000 elections.

Speaking to staff of the hospital last Thursday when he was in Tamale to tour the rain storm disaster sites as well as donate an amount of 200 million to the Tamale Municipal Authority as his contribution to the disaster fund, Prof Mills said that as Vice President, he had personally seen the drawings and knows that the plan was high on the agenda.

According to Prof Mills, the then Health Minister, Mrs. Brookman Amissah, brought the drawings to his office and as the Head of the Economic Management Team, he gave the go-ahead for the work to begin.

“Just like we rebuilt the Sunyani, Ho, Sogakope, Cape Coast and lots of the district hospitals, we were surely going to uplift the Tamale one and it is unfortunate that we did not have the time to accomplish the project” Prof Mills said.

“It hurts me that the NPP threw out all the good plans of the NDC, including that of uplifting the Tamale hospital, such that today the only Teaching Hospital in the region is virtually on its knees” Prof added.

According to Prof Mills health matters are beyond partisan politics that is why he can’t understand Kufuor and his NPP government for denying the people of Tamale what the NDC had put in place to give them.

Though the hospital was not devastated by the rain storm, Prof Mills considered it inappropriate to be in Tamale and not visit the hospital to give hope to the skeletal staff that was still working there after health workers had declared and indefinite strike and he assured the nursing sister in charge of the hospital that immediately the NDC takes over in 2009, the Tamale Hospital would be top on the development agenda of the Mills government.

“I promise to make sure that we continue with our plan of giving the people of Tamale and all other places good hospitals and good social infrastructure and you can read my lips for I would keep to my word and make sure that what I pledge to do is what I would do” the NDC Presidential Candidate said.

On behalf of the staff, the nursing sister in charge of the hospital thanked Prof Mills for his show of concern and promised that in their own small way they would continue to do their best because that is what they were trained to do.

The only Teaching Hospital in the Northern Regions is in ruins and with staff on strike, it is innocent patients who are suffering.