By Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei
(maamedag@gmail.com)
The people of Haatso and the Sarah Adwoa Safoaa Safoin the Greater Accra Region finally get an ultra-modern maternity clinic and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) offices, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Sarah Adwoa Safoaa Safo, has cut the sod for the commencement of the project.
According to Ms Safo, the clinic, when completed, would promote quality and affordable health care service to all pregnant women, mothers, and their unborn babies in the constituency. She added that everybody in the constituency would benefit from the service, stressing, “It doesn’t matter which party you belong to.”
The MP made these remarks at a durbar held at the forecourt of the Haatso Palace to commence the handing over of the land, and subsequently, the cutting of the sod for the commencement of the project.
However, she did not mention the cost of the project, which was financed with the MP’s NHIA Fund, and supported by other charitable institutions and individuals. She indicated that in order for Ghana to achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), it would have to reduce the children under five mortality rate down to 40 deaths per 1,000.
According to her, infant mortality was still alarming and needed to be looked at to enable Ghana achieve the MDG, adding that the first 28 days of life, the “neonatal period”, represents the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival.
Globally, the number of deaths of children under-five years of age, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), fell from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013.
According to her, WHO’s MDG 4 targets a reduction by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
In 2013, around 44% of under-five deaths occurred during this period, up from 37% in 1990, adding that in Ghana, the World Bank, in 2013, estimated that the value of female/child mortality rate was under five (1,000 live births), representing 78.40.
Ms Safo bemoaned the country’s current situation where 80 out of 1,000 children do not make it past the age of five. She encouraged everyone to contribute their quota to make the project successful, since healthcare was a national issue which needed to be tackled with a united front.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Ga East Assembly, Kwao Sackey, said he was happy to be part of the project, because health care was important for the development of every nation.
He said he was happy the Ga East Municipality was in the development process, while appealing to all persons to endeavour to give their all to make the project successful. He pointed out that the former MP for the area, Professor Mike Oquaye, started the Haifa Clinic project.
Although he (MCE) recalled that he was not a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he used to pass by all the time to lend his support. He encouraged the people of the Ga East District to put away their party colours and contribute their quota, because every development is for all, not only parties, as he thanked the Member of Parliament for the project.
The Municipal Director of Health, Dr. Julius A. Dadebo, on his part, said as far as health was concerned, Ga East was doing well, ever since the district was separated from Madina-Abokobi. According to him, at the moment, Dome-Kwabenya was to get a hundred-bed capacity hospital, right behind the Atomic Energy Commission, which, in the future, could be expanded to 200.
He said it was very important for the district to have its own NHIA offices, and not be operating from rented offices. Dr. Dadebo thanked the Ghana Atomic Energy for supporting the district, in terms of land, and health. He advised that there should be enough stakeholders’ consultations, and a lot of collaboration to help move the district forward.