By Richard Kofi Attenkah.
The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has promised to facilitate the completion of the Tema General Hospital (TGH) mortuary project in the next six months, which has been left at the mercy of the sun and reptiles.
The ‘abandoned’ TGH morgue was one of the flagship programmes that Robert Kempes Papa Nii Ofosuware, immediate past Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, actively campaigned on, in his quest to solicit for votes to become the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Tema East constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
This was disclosed by Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, at the third of the series of the TMA organized media briefings under the theme: “Improved Infrastructure –Health Education and Roads”, on Monday.
Addressing members of the Tema Press Corps, Odamtten said the health of the people under his jurisdiction is key to enhancing productivity; consequently he has visited all the public health facilities within the Metro to have firsthand knowledge about the state of affairs.
According to him, the Assembly is embarking on reconstruction and expansion of the Tema General Hospital to ensure that residents of Tema and its environs get the best of health services anytime they are in need of one.
He mentioned that one of the major problems affecting the TGH is the unreliable water supply and that the provision of water to the health facility has been placed very high on the Assembly’s priority list.
Hon Odamtten disclosed that his outfit had commissioned water experts to conduct feasibility study into a process called; “Reverse Osmosis”- to improve the quality of bore-hole water to cater for the needs of the hospital.
In a quest to ensure maximum accessibility to quality health delivery in the Metropolis, the TMA boss revealed that the Assembly in collaboration with the Metro Health Directorate has been able to train nurses and attached them to the various electoral areas to provide well packaged interventions on house to house basis.
“This program has special focus on pregnant women, dedicated and hardworking health personnel are charged to monitor pregnant women from antenatal till the post natal period”, Hon Odamtten noted.
Mr. Odamtten appealed to the general public to donate equipment and medical supplies to support this laudable initiative, and congratulated health workers for their hard work and dedication to duty.
Touching on the deplorable nature of some roads in the metropolis, he said the laying of asphalt from VALCO roundabout to Tema Oil Refill (TOR) Steel Works intersection would commence soon.
According to him the delay has come as a result of variations to the scope of work regarding pavement composition, road alignment and replacement of an old box culvert.
Motorists and commuters who ply the road always complain about the excessive dust making it unbearable for the users. He added that relevant variation has finally been approved and the contractor has worked on 4.3km of the Kpone main road.
On education, Odamtten said the Assembly was working assiduously to eliminate the shift system in the Metropolis as well as reduce overcrowding by providing additional infrastructure.
On how to tackle the issue of invasion of school lands by squatters, the MCE said the Works Department of the Assembly are collaborating with the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) to conduct an audit of all school lands and to properly demarcate and document them.