Church supplies water to UER hospital

The Eastwood Anaba Ministries (EAM) in collaboration with Desert Pastures, a branch of Fountain Gate Chapel (FGC), Bolgatanga, has supplied water to the Upper East Regional hospital, and presented handwashing facilities to aid health service delivery.

The hospital for the past one week had challenges with the Ghana Water Company in the Region, which led to the disconnection of water supply to the facility compelling management to rely on water tankers for water supply.

The situation affected health care delivery, especially in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease, where handwashing among health care staff and patients at the facility was critical in prevention and control.

Over the years, the EAM supported the hospital, especially the Paediatric Department with mattresses, curtains and some consumables.

Reverend Michael Ayikade, the Executive Pastor of Desert Pastures in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the hospital, said the Church was a partner in national development, and health was one of the critical areas in the development of the nation.

He said Reverend Eastwood Anaba, the President of the EAM and Senior Pastor of the FGC, Desert Pastures took the initiative to support the hospital when he received information from management of the hospital about its plight on Tuesday morning.

Reverend Ayikade disclosed that the Senior Pastor immediately directed that six trips of water be supplied to the hospital, while they mobilized to solve the water situation in the facility.

“We have plans to do a better search hydrologically to find aquifers and deposits of water within the vicinity to drill some boreholes to support while the issue between the hospital and the Ghana Water is being sorted out.”

“Without running water we cannot be talking about washing hands with soap, we are contributing our quota to get that in place for people to observe the protocols given to us by the Ghana Health Service”, he said.

The church also presented five “Veronica Buckets” and other handwashing facilities to the hospital, while plans were underway to purchase 22 more “Veronica Buckets”, which were not readily available in the market, to support effective hand washing, the Executive Pastor said.

Reverend Ayikade said eventhough the FGC and EAM believed in prayer, they also believed in pragmatic steps to ensure that the Ghana Health Service protocols on COVID-19 were observed to keep the Region safe, “the church will always help the hospital in any regard that the church has the capacity to help”, he added.

Mr Zakariah Yakubu, the Head of Administration of the Hospital said when management of the hospital contacted the leadership of the FGC and EAM about the water problem, they quickly responded.

“The mobilization has been swift and we are grateful for the quick intervention, the Veronica Buckets were also delivered in less than 30 minutes. We as a health institution take infection prevention and control seriously, one cannot do infection prevention and control without water.”

He said the hospital had serious challenges with service delivery due to the cut off of water supply and described the support from the FGC and EAM as a “big boost” to the hospital.