Residents of the Zanlerigu community in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region have raised funds to renovate the Zanlerigu Health Centre for improved health care delivery.
The Zanlerigu Health Centre is a major referral health facility for several communities such as Zanlerigu, Dagliga, Gane and many others. It has, however, been in a bad state, and adversely affecting healthcare delivery.
At a durbar organised at Zanlerigu, residents of Zanlerigu, Dagliga and Gane communities made contributions towards the renovation of the health centre, to help improve the facility to serve their health needs.
Mr Isaac Wulug, the Assemblyman of the Zanlerigu-Dagliga Electoral Area who doubles as a member of the Community Health Management Committee, noted that the health centre in its current state posed a threat to health care delivery.
He said though part of the facility was renovated by the District Assembly, the other half of it had been left at the mercy of the weather to deteriorate as its louvres and ceil
ing were rotten.
‘This health facility, which is essentially supposed to cater for our health needs, is in itself sick, and so, there is the need for all of us as a people to contribute the little we have so that we can put it in good shape for our own good,’ he emphasised.
An amount close to GHS10,000 was realised at the durbar as against a target amount of GHS20,000 to renovate the health facility and complete the construction of a pavilion to provide shade for patients while they wait at the facility to be attended to.
‘We are by this medium extending our appeal to our people in the diaspora and other organisations with an interest in health to come to our aid by contributing towards the renovation of our health centre,’ he added.
The Assemblyman also indicated that attendance at the health centre had declined over the years due to the absence of medicine and appealed to the government to expedite action in the timely release of medicine to the facility.
Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, the Member of Parliament
for the Nabdam Constituency, who donated GHS3,000 towards the renovation of the health centre, commended the residents for their zeal towards health care delivery.
He, however, bemoaned the failure of the Assembly to add the renovation of the facility to the maternity ward project under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion SOCO project, of which the community was a beneficiary.
‘Despite my role as the member of parliament in bringing this SOCO project, I was never engaged by the Assembly in the citing of the projects; other than that, we could have just added the renovation to the maternity ward project, of which this very community is a beneficiary to be renovated,’ he said.
Mr Yen Nyeya, a revered elder of the community and chairman of the occasion, noted that unity and peace were the ingredients for development and urged the residents to come together and champion the development they desired.
Mr Akasom Nsoyine Anafo, the Zanlerigu Health Centre In- Charge and the sub district head of th
e Ghana Health service (GHS) thanked the community for their continuous support to the health centre.
He urged the residents to prioritise their health needs and called on pregnant women to attend Antennal care (ANC) for interventions that may be vital to their health and wellbeing of their infants.
Source: Ghana News Agency
