PHOTO: Pregnant women share bed at Tema General Hospital

• Posted on July 15, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Currently, there is congestion at the maternity ward of the Tema General Hospital due to lack of infrastructure, DAILY GUIDE has discovered.

The situation is so worrying that some pregnant women are forced to deliver on benches that are positioned for guests who call on the ward to pay visits to their patients.

Some pregnant women due delivery as a result of the stress they have to go through all the time either lose their babies or die at end.

Mothers with babies are made to share one bed, while those in labour sit on benches waiting for some of their colleagues to be discharged.

Conditions at the hospital are aggravating day after day, as there is growing population in the Tema metropolis.

It is expected that the new maternity block which is being constructed by the Ezimatirx Company Limited would incorporate a 20-bed labour ward, 100 capacity bed post-natal ward, 20 cots and eight incubators at a neo-natal unit, 10 bed private ward and two theatre tables.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, who toured the health facility, has expressed disgust at the inadequate infrastructure at the only referral hospital in the Tema metropolis, describing it as “appalling and unacceptable”.

He assured the authority of the hospital that everything would be done to complete the projects on time in order to ease pressure and improve conditions at the health facility.

He also instructed the Ghana Water Company (GWC) to ensure the regular flow of water to the hospital to cater for the health needs of the patients.

The hospital, which was constructed in 1954 to cater for workers who constructed the Tema Harbour, now attends to patients from Nungua, Tema, Kpone, Ashaiman and residents in the Dangme East and West districts, putting pressure on the existing facilities.

From Vincent Kubi, Tema