Story by Yaaba Yamikeh, Sekondi
As part of his campaign tour of the Western Region, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, a former Member of Parliament for Assin Central constituency in the Central Region and one of NPP’s flagbearer aspirants, donated assorted drugs and medical devices worth thousands of cedis to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi.
The items were meant to improve health delivery at the hospital. They included boxes of gripe water, speedots, mefat tablets, feroclear H-syrup, B-Antacid, Mist expect cid, streptol and two electric wheel chairs.
They were presented to management of the facility at a brief ceremony last Wednesday.
In a brief remark, Mr. Agyapong described the donation as his “widow’s mite” and legacy in the Western Region, adding that he had earlier donated an incubator to the same health facility some months ago.
More donations ahead
The flagbearer aspirant spoke of plans to donate an additional eight electric wheel chairs and fifty beds to the hospital next month to help make patients comfortable.
He said an inspection conducted at the hospital identified shortage of beds as major challenge facing it. He expressed optimism that the intended donation would go a long way in addressing this hiccup.
Mr. Agyapong also expressed his readiness to donate similar medical items to other health facilities in the country, with Central Region being the next beneficiary.
He indicated that the decision to embark on this philanthropic gesture was influenced by an experience that some members of his campaign team went through at Drobo hospital in the Jaman South district of the Bono Region after a road accident.
“It was during that unexpected crucial moment that I realized that our hospitals need to be resourced to offer services, especially emergency services. Nobody can control calamity from striking. You don’t know when you will fall sick and be sent to a hospital,” he said.
He said hospitals are so important and should be likened to or be part of bedrooms, adding “if we regularly clean our bedrooms, then our hospitals should also be resourced.”
Resource hospitals
Mr. Agyapong reminded Ghanaians that if they ignored hospitals, they would surely be there one day to face the consequence of inadequate drugs and equipment at the facilities.
He urged other politicians as well as businessmen and businesswomen to emulate his example by resourcing hospitals and other health facilities in their respective communities.
The deputy chief pharmacist at Effia-Nkwanta, Mrs Ophelia Yankey, who received the items on behalf of management, said they were beyond expectation. She thanked Mr Agyapong for his kind gesture.
She also assured him that the items would be used for their intended purposes.
