Acute water shortage undermines delivery of Salaga Hospital

The lack of water supply to the Salaga Government Hospital has compelled doctors and nurses to carry water in buckets to various units of the hospital to attend to patients.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA), which witnessed this situation when it visited the hospital at Salaga in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region, also learnt that hospital authorities bought sachet water, which they used during surgical operations.

Mr William Abittor, Matron of the Salaga Government Hospital, who spoke to GNA, said for about 15 years now, water had not flowed through the taps of the hospital, compelling Management to buy water from tanker service providers.

Mr Abittor said the water provided by the tanker service, was drawn from the Kpembe Dam, which had been badly polluted as people used the dam as dumping grounds for refuse while, animals also drunk directly from it.

He said the hospital had one poly-tank, which was not connected to all of its (hospital) units, thus forcing staff at other units to carry water in buckets or use sachet water for their operations.

Mr Abittor said, “This no water problem” also extended to the quarters of hospital staff making them not to wash their attires and other clothes for months and sometimes making them go to work without bathing to attend to patients.

He said this situation had exposed the health workers to danger, compelling them to sometimes absent themselves from work, thus affecting the quality of healthcare delivery at the hospital.

Mr Abittor, therefore, appealed to the authorities to supply the hospital with a water tanker or ensure that the taps were flowing at the hospital to help address its water needs.