Round-the-clock nursing care, reduced kindergarten overcrowding and improved sanitation are now within reach for residents of North East district after the area’s Member of Parliament Alhaji Alhassan Mumuni and Municipal Chief Executive, Abdul Mumin Ewuntomah commissioned a package of community projects.
The projects include a two-unit kindergarten classroom block, nurses’ quarters and a toilet facility. The MP also inaugurated 100 women to support sanitation efforts in the district and presented anti-snake venom to the District Health Directorate.
For a long time, nurses posted to Kpalbe had no accommodation in the district, forcing many to travel daily between Tamale and their posts.
The resulting transport costs and fatigue affected service delivery, with some clinics at times left unattended when staff were on the road, residents complained.
After repeated complaints from nurses, the MP and the Municipal Chief intervened to provide on-site accommodation so health workers can live in the community and respond to emergencies at any hour.
The District Health Director praised the move, saying it will cut transport expenses for nurses and improve availability of care, especially for mothers and children who often need urgent attention.
“Nurses will not have to spend much on transportation travelling in and out of Tamale just to come and take care of sick people and then go back,” he said at the commissioning. “Now they are here with us in the community.”
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Community members also welcomed the project, noting they can now visit the clinic any day and be sure nurses will be present, instead of finding closed facilities because staff had gone to Tamale.
“Gone are the days when you come to the clinic and no one is around because they have all gone to Tamale and are yet to return,” one resident said.
The team proceeded to commissioned a two-unit kindergarten classroom block which the representative of the District Director of Education said the new facility would ease severe overcrowding at Kpalbe Islamic Primary School, where kindergarten enrolment currently exceeds 300 pupils.
The District Education Director explained that the pressure meant many children stayed at home until Class One age because there was simply no space to admit them earlier.
“Because it’s the only kindergarten school in the community, the overcrowding and lack of space was a burden,” he said.
“With the existence of this new kindergarten, we will ease the burden on the already existing kindergarten.”
The new block is expected to allow more kindergarten-age children to start formal schooling on time and bring pupil numbers closer to recommended class sizes.
This is particularly significant for poorer households that could not afford private kindergarten fees and previously kept their children at home until primary level.
Women’s sanitation task force
About 100 women from the community were formally integrated as a sanitation task force to keep the district clean.
The group will be responsible for routine cleaning activities, helping to reduce waste buildup and improve the overall hygiene of public spaces.
To tackle open defecation, the district assembly also commissioned a public toilet facility for residents who do not have toilets at home.
This is critical in a community that depends on dugouts and dams for water, where open defecation poses serious health risks, including waterborne diseases.
Health officials say the new facility will help prevent people from relieving themselves in the open and reduce contamination of water sources used by residents.
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Anti-snake bite serum for farming community
Recognising that Kpalbe is a farming community where men, women and children regularly work in fields, the MP donated about 200 boxes of anti-snake bite serum to the local health facility.
The donation followed a request from health workers who reported that existing stocks were running low.
The serum will be available to treat snakebite victims promptly, reducing the risk of death or disability after bites on farms and around homes.
By Nadra Mohammed
