The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bolgatanga East Constituency in the Upper East Region, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has presented a cheque for Gh¢200,000 to support the construction of a maternity block at Katanga.
Work on the facility, started by the MP in December 2022, stalled due to the lack of funds.
At a brief gathering to present the cheque, the MP said maternal health care delivery at Katanga was brought to his attention in 2020 during his campaigns tour.
He said nurses at the facility showed him the deplorable state of the current delivery room which had one bed at a corner on which they conducted delivery.
Touched by the plight of the facility, the MP awarded contract for the construction of a new facility in December 2022 with GH¢400,000.00 as start up .
Dr Ayine said after the start up capital, a total amount of GH¢210,000.00 was later disbursed in trenches and the GH¢200,000 was the last trench to complete the facility.
“I remember in 2020 when I was doing my campaign rounds, I came around here to greet the nurses and they took me to a place where the do the deliveries, and told me it was a very pathetic case because the place could only take one pregnant woman at a time.
“When I was told the situation, I promised that I was going to build a maternity ward for them,” the former Deputy Minister of Justice said.
Dr Ayine however, attributed the slow pace of work on the project to government’s inability to release funds to MPs on time and the capping and realignment by the Ministry of Finance.
“So all the sectors have been capped even the MPs common fund is capped,” Dr Ayine said.
He said the action of the Finance Ministry affected his share of the Common Fund and brought his ongoing project in the Constituency to a halt.
Mr Ahabid Mahama the Contractor for the project, who received the cheque, said he would immediately mobilize and return to site and complete the project by the end of 2023.
Mr Emmanuel Kop-Puo, the Bolgatanga East District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) who received the 200,000.00 cheque on behalf of contractor, thanked the MP for his continues support to the Service.
He said the completion of the maternity block would improve on maternal healthcare delivery and protect the privacy and dignity of expectant mothers.
He noted that Dr Ayine had over the years support the GHS in the District, and immediately recalled that he recently supported the Directorate with accommodation for the Medical Officer in the District.
Source: mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya