The Assemblymember for the Bongase electoral area in the Banda District of the Bono region, Peter Dongi, has appealed for the only health facility at Bongase to be upgraded into a health centre.

According to him, if upgraded, the Bongase rural clinic will help enhance effective healthcare delivery in the area as the population keeps increasing.

He said, "The rural clinic is presently serving over 20,000 population, causing congestion at the facility and making quality healthcare delivery extremely difficult”.

Mr Dongi explained in an interview that the addition of a new fishing market in the area has caused the population to go up daily, and the health facility might not be able to cater for their health needs.

“Considering the growing number of people in Bongase, it is just appropriate that Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health teamed up to upgrade the facility from a rural clinic to a health centre," the assembly member for Bongase stressed.

He stated that upgrading the health facility to a standard health centre will assure more people from Bongase and other communities of the availability of quality and effective health if they visit the facility.

He again called on the government to absorb the Bongase Presbyterian Basic School and Roman Catholic Basic School to become public schools so that the community could benefit from the government's education policies.

However, the Banda District Director of Health Services (DDHS), Simon Adams, backed the call to upgrade the Bongase Rural Clinic to a health centre but added that a few things should be in place to meet the requirements for the upgrading.

"Having a Physician Assistant (PA) at the facility is the main requirement for the upgrading, but we don't have one at Bongase, making the process difficult.

Three years ago, we had one PA thinking we could get the rural clinic upgraded, but he left us," Mr Adams pointed out.

He said the Banda District Assembly is now sponsoring a PA student to serve at the health facility after the course.

"We are hoping to get this PA at post so that the upgrading process can begin since we already have a functional laboratory and a midwife making the full complement of the basic requirements," the Banda DDHS stated.

He mentioned lack of staff accommodation and attrition as some challenges facing the Banda District Health Directorate, adding, "I have a lot of applications on my desk asking for transfer out of the district".

"Staff accommodation is a huge challenge throughout the district, and fortunately, the member of parliament for Banda is constructing one at Banda Ahenkro, the district capital, but the other communities are still in need," Mr Adams added.

He said the Banda District was to benefit from the Agenda 111 project, but nothing has started, although the needed parcel of land has been allocated and made available.

He implored the responsible authorities to fast-track the process so that Banda would also get a district hospital to attract medical officers.