The Government Hospital at Prestea has been operating for the past one week without a medical officer. This is because the Medical Officer in-charge of the hospital has been ejected from his apartment by the State Gold Mining Company (SGMC) which claims ownership of the bungalow. Consequently, patients have to travel a longer distance to Tarkwa to access healthcare. Prestea Hospital serves many communities, including Dwirigum, Kwame Niampa, Bondaye, Mbease-Nsuta and Kutukrom. In an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA), Dr Kennedy Azantilow, the Medical Officer in-charge of the hospital who is now residing in Takoradi said there was a court order initiated by SGMC for him to quit and therefore, he left the bungalow on December 28, 2007. Dr. Azantilow said in 1996 when SGMC was divesting Prestea Gold Mine, it handed over its hospital to the Mininstry of Health (MOH) which accepted and absorbed all the workers who were staying in SGMC bungalows at that time. Dr Azantilow said seven years after the handing over in 2003, SGMC came back to order the hospital staff to vacate the SGMC bungalows. At this juncture, he said, the MOH wrote to SGMC to sort it out at the Ministerial level but later SGMC sent the case to court and the court gave the ejection order. Meanwhile, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Ayensu, Wassa West District Chief Executive told the GNA that the District Assembly was prepared to offer hotel accommodation for the Doctor in the interim. Source: GNA