Access to quality healthcare remains a challenge in Agortor, a farming community in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.
The poor state of the Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound serving residents, coupled with the lack of accommodation for healthcare workers posted to the area, is impeding effective healthcare delivery.
Although Agortor is just about a two-hour drive from the regional capital, Accra, healthcare delivery here remains a major challenge.
The only CHPS compound serving Agortor and eight adjoining communities has been in a deplorable state for years. A small three-room structure serves both as residence for health workers and as a clinic.
Two of the rooms are occupied by the staff — one male and two females — while the third room functions as the clinic.
The clinic provides detention, OPD, family planning, antenatal care, and delivery services. The facility lacks basic amenities — there is no water, no proper washrooms, and no toilets.
Staff are forced to buy water for daily use and resort to open defecation. Clients who visit the facility must use an improvised area as a washroom.
For residents, the situation is deeply worrying. A resident, Paddy Gazo, noted that accommodation for the nurses is the major problem.
‘‘They don’t have a place to stay. No washrooms no water and the space too, small. You will be there, and someone is being delivered of a baby. It’s worrying. You don’t have privacy when you come around.” He lamented.
Another resident, Gifty Kudjo also noted how many residents refuse seeking medical attention at the clinic. ‘‘Someone will be sick and needs to be detained but there is no bed and so many people won’t come.’’
They are calling on the government to improve infrastructure and provide decent accommodation for health workers.
‘‘The nurses don’t have accommodation and so they refuse posting to this place.’’ Said another resident Peter sanjja
Assembly Member for the area, Abednago Wussah, says several efforts to seek help have not yielded results.
‘‘The residences for the nurses have deteriorated for some time. We have appealed to the district assemblies and NGOs, but nothing has happened and it’s affecting both the residents and the healthcare workers. Now they are sharing the place with the clinic.’’ He explained.
Currently, all critical cases are referred to Bator in the Volta Region.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. It is the hope of residents that authorities will take steps to tackle challenges hindering quality healthcare.
