The Member of Parliament for Banda Constituency, Ahmed Ibrahim has disclosed that he will expand the health centre at Banda into a District Hospital.

The project will be funded with resources from his share of the Health Insurance Fund and MPs common Fund.

The MP told JoyNews the District cannot continue to wait on the central government for all their needs as that could take years while the people struggle to get befitting health care in the district.

”Assuming we have a district hospital in Banda, here would have been a priority area where the government would have brought Personal Protective Equipment, instead of us relying on Wenchi and Tain district hospitals.

“Can you imagine the number of people who will be infected with the disease if somebody has it here unaware and is being transported to seek health care at Nsawkwa”, Ahmed quizzed. 

The Banda district, created about ten years ago has been without a District Hospital except two health centres, a rural clinic, and eight chip compounds. 

Inhabitants have had to travel to Wenchi or Nsawkwa in the Tain district to access health service delivery, a situation Ahmed Ibrahim, who is also the First Deputy Minority Whip in Parliament wants to change.

He is, therefore, rallying support from the chiefs and people to expand one of the health centers at Banda Ahenkro into a District Hospital to serve the needs of the people, especially in the era of the coronavirus pandemic. 

He said he wants to prevent this from happening, “that is the very reason why I want to use my share of the Health Insurance fund and MPs common fund to expand the health center into a district hospital”.

The MP said he already has about 24,000 blocks out of the 50,000 needed, iron rods, sand, etc on-site to start the project.

He revealed that the cost of the project is about ₵36,000,000 but hopes to use just about ₵6,000,000 with the help of local labor. 

This he said requires the support of the Chiefs and people in Banda if they are to improve their health care.

He is confident having done the same in Tain in 2009, he will complete the district hospital and also expand other chip compounds into health centers in the district.

The Banda MP, Ahmed Ibrahim said this when he donated 2,500 pieces of hand sanitizers, 70 Veronica buckets, 70 receptacles, 30 stands and 60 pieces of tissue papers worth ₵40,000 to support the District Health Directorate against the spread of the coronavirus.

Though the Bono Region has not recorded any case, Ghana has a total confirmed case of 408 with eight deaths as of April 11, 2020 and as such, education on preventive protocols remains key.

Ahmed Ibrahim also appealed to the people to adhere to the directives of the president, Nana Akufo Addo to stop the spread of the Covid-19 while admonishing the president to do wide consultation.

Receiving the items, Banda district health director, Simon Adams expressed his appreciation to the MP adding that an expansion of the health center will help them very much.

Mr. Adams also appealed to authorities for support as the district health directorate is without an office and accommodation for staff.