A trauma centre has been inaugurated at the Yendi Municipal Hospital to cater for people in the eastern corridor in the Northern Region.
The 28-bed centre cost Mission 318 of the US and Global Mission Resource Centre $400,000.
The Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Abukari II, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Member of Parliament for the Yendi Constituency, Farouk Aliu Mahama, also supported in the construction of the project.
It is expected to be a referral centre for the district hospitals and health centres in and around Bimbilla, Zabzugu, Tatale/Sanguli, Mion, Saboba, Karaga, Gushegu, Chereponi and Kpandai within the eastern corridor.
The two benefactor non-governmental organisations have since 2008 carried out medical outreach programmes in Yendi where doctors and nurses from the US perform free surgeries for patients with hernia, uterine fibroid, goitre, among other diseases, at the hospital.
The centre has been named after an emergency nurse from the US, Alicia Reine Bishop, a volunteer of one of the outreach medical teams, who later passed on in the US.
The Founder and Executive Director of Global Mission Resources Centre and members of Mission 318 jointly handed over the facility to the hospital.
The inauguration was characterised by a flag hoisting ceremony, with the Member of Parliament for Yendi, Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama; John Hull of St Louis of the US, and Rev. Emmanuel Kwabena Mustapha of the Global Mission Resource Centre in attendance.
Free services
For Mission 318, the gesture was the latest of benevolent activities in the Yendi Municipality where the NGO had distributed 130,000 pieces of treated mosquito nets during previous outreach programmes.
The NGO had previously established a basic school, the North Eastern Christian Academy, in Yendi to raise the standard of education in the area.
The trauma centre has already become fully operational as a team of 17 medical doctors, nurses and clinical pharmacists undertook surgeries for free for patients with various diseases at the facility.
At the close of January, a 23-member medical team also arrived from the US to offer free services at the facility.
Rev. Mustapha said getting duty waivers for some medical equipment shipped in to support the trauma centre was a challenge and a hindrance to adequately equipping the facility.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to intervene in order not to discourage the partners from helping the hospital to equip the centre, and expressed the hope that the Yendi Municipal Hospital would soon be upgraded to a teaching hospital.
Serving an important corridor
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ayuba Seidu Abdulai, described the facility as a great intervention and expressed appreciation to Mission 318 and Global Mission Resource Centre for the facility.
Dr Abdulai said eight years ago, the management of the hospital came up with a plan to improve facilities at the hospital, and in 2021 they tried to raise funds with the support of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, towards the project.
The Chief Executive of the Yendi Municipal Assembly, Alhaji Abubakar Yussuf Hammed, commended the Medical Superintendent and his management for the efforts put in to improve upon the facilities and services of the hospital.
He said although there was a master plan for the improvement of facilities of the hospital, funding had been a challenge.
He thus appealed to the public to support to provide the necessary structures for the hospital.
Universal Health Coverage
The MP for Yendi, donated 50 blood pressure apparatus worth GH¢22,500, 30 glucometers worth GH¢13,500, 900 street light bulbs worth GH¢18,000 and GH¢10,000 in cash to support the running of the hospital.
The Deputy Regional Health Director, Jeremiab Tiimob, said Ghana’s roadmap to achieve universal health coverage included the objective to increase access to responsive clinical and public health emergency services.