The Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH) has rehabilitated and equipped the dilapidated Likpe polyclinic in the Guan District of the Oti Region.

The facility constructed by Ghana’s First President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1965, saw some structural rehabilitation and furnished with a laptop, photocopier, printers, motor bikes, scanners, doppler, air conditioner, hematology analyzer, fridge, beds, and lockers.

The initiative is targeted at equipping the facility to get it upgraded to its original polyclinic status to lessen the challenges of access to quality healthcare delivery in the newly created district.

The Deputy Country Director of KOFIH, Ms Chae Eun Kim led a team to commission and hand over the refurbished facility at Likpe Bekua to the Ghana Health Service.

She stressed her outfit's commitment to ensuring universal health coverage in Ghana by sustaining its partnership with the Ghana Health Service to provide requisite infrastructure, logistics, and human capacity building in the health sector.

“Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH) is proud to support the people of Ghana as well as the Oti Region in strengthening healthcare systems that benefit all communities.

“KOFIH has been working closely with the ORHD and we are committed to continuing the partnership for many years to come. We will do our part to ensure this collaboration becomes stronger and impactful”, she said.

She acknowledged the roles played by the various stakeholders which led to the success of the project and expressed optimism that the facility would meet the health demands of residents in the catchment area.

The Oti Regional Director Health Service, Dr. Osei Kuffuor Afreh said the initiative was fueled by concerns from traditional authorities on the dilapidated state of the Likpe Health Center.

He said his outfit also lobbied the Ghana Medical Association to provide a resident medical doctor and promised to ensure additional staff are transferred to augment the human resources of the facility.

He added that he had engaged KOFIH, the Ministry of Health, and the Ghana Health Service in providing logistics to the theatre to make it operational.

Dr. Afreh promised to ensure the Guan Health Directorate is provided with a vehicle to enhance the administration of the district.

He disclosed that efforts are being made to upgrade the Likpe CHPS Compound to a District Hospital in a bid to achieve the vision of providing hospitals in all 9 districts of the Oti Region.

“Also, management of the Oti Regional Health Services has taken it upon itself that every office is entitled to having a district hospital. So, the vision is that once it started as a polyclinic we are dealing with health insurance to give us accreditation as a polyclinic and as you add more services, the vision is that in the nearest possible time, this facility will serve as the district hospital for the Guan District”, he said.

He appealed to health staff to exhibit professionalism in the discharge of their duties following complaints of bad attitudes of staff towards patients at the various facilities in his jurisdiction.

Dr. Afreh entreated the staff, Chiefs, and people of Likpe to practice high-standard maintenance measures to ensure the facility does not deteriorate as witnessed in the past.

The Acting Guan District Director of Health Service, Rose Ayibor chronicled that the once vibrant and critical referral health facility in the area deteriorated, leading to being downgraded from a Poly Clinic to CHPS status.

She, therefore, lauded the Oti Regional Health Directorate and KOFIH for their collaborative efforts in bringing the Likpe CHPS to life, through structural renovation and retooling.

She, however, outlined the lack of essential theater equipment, vehicles, inadequate staff accommodation, critical staff - including biomedical scientists and pharmacists - and power debt as urgent needs to be addressed to augment healthcare delivery in the district.

“While we are fully committed to addressing these issues, it is clear that the government and the
Ghana Health Service alone cannot shoulder this responsibility. I, therefore, appeal to everyone here today, as well as to citizens within and outside of Ghana, to support us in providing the necessary resources for enhanced healthcare delivery”, she said.

Speaking on behalf of the Chiefs and people of Likpe, Teddy Ofori called for the establishment of a mortuary facility to ease the burden of transporting corpses to and from outside the traditional area.

He believes operations of the mortuary would create jobs and rake in some revenue for the facility.