Make Seed Capital available for the running of the Upper West Regional Hospital – MPs Caucus

Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Upper West Region have called on the government and the Ministry of Health to make seed capital available for the effective running of the Wa Regional Hospital.

According to the Upper West MPs Caucus, ever since the Hospital was commissioned and operationalized, the Ministry has failed to resource it with vehicle and ambulance and the required drugs to enable the hospital function well as a Regional Hospital.

It is based on this spirit that, the MP for the Daffiama/Bussie/Issa constituency, Dr. Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandare asked the Minister of Health, when the seed money for the effective operations of the Upper West Regional Hospital will be released.

Responding to the question in Parliament, the Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said, “The Ghana Health Service (GHS) does not have the budgetary allocation for such seed money but new hospital projects have start-up capital and initial supplies inbuilt in their contracts”.

He said the intervention is to forestall such challenges inhibiting smooth operations of new hospitals.

The Minister disclosed that, the Upper West Regional Hospital had initial start-up capital challenges but all is well now and that “necessary commodities both drugs and non-drugs are supplied from the regional medical stores and GHS is supporting them by paying utility bills”.

However, the MP and his colleagues from the Region who were not impressed with the answers provided by the Minister revealed that the Hospital was built to serve the entire Region and beyond “but unfortunately, the facility is faced with basic needs”.

At a press conference in Parliament to indicate their displeasure, Dr. Sandare emphasized the point that, “all is not well with the hospital and we have serious challenges since the seed capital was not released as done for other areas”.

By Edzorna Francis Mensah