The structure and equipment of Tolon District Hospital in the Northern Region are gathering dust over the non-operationalisation of the hospital six months after it was commissioned.

 In November last year, Vice President Dr Mahmud Bawumia commissioned the District hospital as part of his three-day visit to the Northern Region.

Work on the 60-bed modern hospital started in 2017 by Vamed Engineering Group to bridge the equity gap in health infrastructure in the Region, but it is yet to be put to use, making patients in the District with no option than to commute on the longer distance to Tamale to seek medical care.

A resident of Woribogu, a farming community in the District, Mumuni Seidu, tells Joynews that the Hospital's closure is having a dire effect on access to healthcare in the District.

"Accessing healthcare is very difficult in this district; we travel a long distance from our community to Tamale to access healthcare, and it’s not an easy way, but we don’t have any option. Sometimes how to get a car is not easy, and it’s hard for pregnant women, but if the hospital was active, it will have been very easy for us," he said.

Another worried resident in Lingbin Fuseini Mahamud said, "When the Vice President commissioned the hospital, we were delighted, but since the commissioning, the hospital has not been put to use, and we are distraught. If you send patients there, the local security people will tell you to send the patient to Tamale.

"From here to Tamale is very far...just two days ago, we lost our senior brother in our struggle to transport him to Tamale; we are therefore appealing to government to open up the hospital for our use".

The situation at hand is also a worry for some chiefs in the district; one of them is the paramount chief of Woribogu Alhaji  Alhassan Abdulai, who recounted how the non-operationalisation of the hospital has affected his son in an accident.

"One of my sons was returning from Tamale and he was crossed by a cow on a motorbike we had to send him to Tamale because the nurses at the CHIPS compound here were unable to deal with the issue.

"They advised us to send him to Tamale because it required some stitches...but see, we have a beautiful hospital here in the district look at the big money that government has spent on the hospital, but no doctors and nurses, it has everything and government should find ways of making the hospital work".

Health Managers in the District and regional have both declined comments on the non-operationalisation of the facility.

But some concerned staff of the Regional Health Directorate who spoke to JoyNews on condition of anonymity said the Health Ministry is yet to handover the facility to the Ghana Health Service.

They disclosed that they have recruited 48 nurses, two medicals Doctors, laboratory technicians, pharmacists among others health staff to the health facility.

The source also said because the facility has not been put into use, the health staff who have been posted to the District hospital have been in the District with minimal work to do.

State of the Hospital

The beautiful cream painted modern hospital is like the size of a sports stadium, well fenced and shares boundaries with the Tolon District Assembly at the entrance of the district capital Tolon.

At the site, it was observed by Joy News that the various components, including an out-patients department, the emergency unit with a waiting ambulance, a laboratory, a rehabilitation centre, an obstetric and neonatal unit, a surgical ward, general bed ward, and a mortuary, were all fully furnished and ready to be used.

It also has an administration block, staff changing facility, kitchen and laundry unit, a waste management unit, and a staff accommodation bedroom.

The outer and inner perimeters are fitted with fire hydrants, backup power generators and some solar systems.

The Tolon District hospital is not the only District Health facility that is not been put to use. Joy News checks at Sawla in the Savanna Region reveal that a similar District Hospital is yet to be operationalised.

The site supervisor of the Tolon and Sawla District Hospitals Bawah Williams told Joy News "everything that is expected on the part of the contractor has been done and any other issue related to the hospital must be referred to the Ministry of Health".

Background

The Tolon District hospital is one of five District hospitals that was awarded to the Vamed Engineering Group in line with government vision to increase healthcare facilities and strengthen the existing ones in the country, based on the country’s health infrastructure deficit.

The other health facilities included; the Somanya Hospital in the Eastern Region, Buipe Hospital in the Savannah Region, 60-bed Hospital at Wheta in the Volta Region, 60-bed Hospital at Sawla in the Savannah Region and a 30-bed Polyclinic at Bamboi in the Savannah Region