The Medical Director of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH) in the Western Region, Dr Joseph Tambil has said that the facility had many infrastructural challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has, therefore, appealed to the oil and mining companies and other well-meaning Ghanaians to help the hospital to renovate its uncompleted buildings to install COVID-19 equipment.

He said that though the COVID-19 was going down, the hospital would have no holding for the patients should there be a second wave because the current structure used as COVID-19 holding place was woefully inadequate.

Dr Tambil was speaking in an interview with The Spectator on preparations to house patients of COVID-19.

“I feel COVID-19 is going down but if there is a second wave it will take us by surprise so the Western Region needs to be adequately prepared to accommodate COVID-19 patients”, he said.

He disclosed that the Mothers’ Hostel needed about GHC800, 000. 00 to complete the facility and make it habitable for about 1,000 patients.

He said the Hostel was started by the former Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Mr Paapa Owusu Ankomah but he could not complete it and it has been on the ground floor for all these years.

He said the facility was the ideal place for COVID-19 patients since it was out of the hospital.

The Medical Director said that though COVID-19  had been bad, it had brought some assistance like ventilators which were badly needed by the hospital to set up an Intensive Care Unit because such cases were always sent to either Cape Coast or Accra.

Dr Tambil asked the good people of the region especially the oil and mining companies to come to the assistance of the hospital because it lacked so many things as a referral hospital

He said with the donation of ventilators and patient monitors, the hospital still needed infrastructure to install these equipment for use, stressing that the hospital had the technicians to handle the equipment but no room to accommodate the monitors and ventilators.

The Medical Director appealed to the paramount chiefs to urge people of good financial standing to come and help because “the hospital had no ward fit enough to admit important personalities when these people were referred to the hospital for treatment.”

From Peter Gbambila, Takoradi.