The Wa East District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Pascal Kingsley Mwin has disclosed that three-quarters of the construction works of a theatre facility at Bulenga community have been completed in efforts to upgrade the Bulenga Health Centre to the status of a polyclinic.
This was made known at the Annual Performance Review conference of the Wa East District Health Directorate held at Loggu over the weekend.
"With contributions and support from the Upper West Youth Parliament, the Chief and people of Bulenga, Azumah Mines and RDHS [Regional Director of Health Services] who permitted us to use part of our IGF in offsetting some bills, the Bulenga polyclinic to be is 75% complete," Dr Mwin disclosed.
He said the facility was left with the purchasing and installation of equipment and air-conditioners as well as tiling of the floors and walls to be fully readied for use.
He appealed to district authorities, corporate bodies and individuals to support the Health Directorate in acquiring the needed logistics to "complete it [the theatre] and operationalize it this year."
Pending the completion of the District Hospital at Funsi, the district capital, under the Agenda 111 project, the Bulenga soon-to-be polyclinic would become the first secondary-level health facility with the capacity to perform obstetric services in the district.
The District Health Director also noted that full laboratory services were functional at the Loggu Health Centre and called on the Regional Health Directorate to "post additional laboratory personnel to the district to augment the 2 personnel covering the entire district."
He lamented that "effective, efficient and smooth delivery of quality health services in the district" was affronted by mobility concerns as transportation systems have worsened, leaving 10 motorbikes to serve the entire district with the only road-worthy motorable vehicle ageing over five years and often breaking down.
Coupled with accommodation challenges, he further lamented the limited and in some cases, the lack of critical care staff such as medical doctors, physician assistants, lab technicians, midwives, and pharmacists.
Dr Mwin, however, noted that the district was privileged to have one of its staff recognized at the GHS Excellence Awards at the national level and impressed "upon the region to prioritize the staff of Wa East for study leave approval as less than 50% of our eligible staff who applied last year were granted study leave" as he urged the staff keep giving off their utmost best.
The Regional Chief Nursing Officer and District Parent, Pognaa Cecilia Tuo hinted that the GHS was working together with partners to support the districts and sub-districts with requisite logistics to enhance the delivery of healthcare services.
"In this regard, the Service allocated 61 motorbikes to the region for distribution to all districts which have been predetermined from national level based on available data," she disclosed.
She noted the districts would soon be receiving the motorbikes and urged that the districts put them to the intended use with a commitment to providing routine maintenance to ensure maximum benefit is derived from the resources.
"It's our hope that you would justify this investment with corresponding improvement in our indicators," she said as she acknowledged that there was still a huge gap in the transport system that needed to be addressed.
The annual performance review assessment, conducted by a team of assessors from the Wa East District, suggested that the Wa East District performed very well in the under review (2023) as it adequately met almost all indicators.