The ceiling of the Emergency Children�s Block of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital caved in following a heavy downpour in Accra on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
This has compelled the hospital authorities to relocate about 30 children from the Emergency Ward to one of the main wards located on the second floor of the adjacent block.
The situation has created congestion and threatens the safety and health of the affected children, as any infection could be spread quickly.
When the Daily Graphic visited the hospital last Saturday, doctors were attending to the children in the crowded ward.
Some of the parents who spoke to the Daily Graphic said apart from the congestion, water supply to the ward had not been regular.
According to them, they had to resort to sending water from their homes to the hospital.
Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mr Mustapha Salifu, said efforts had already been made to solve the problem.
�When it happened, we had to quickly move the children to the second floor of the building to make way for the repair works,� he said.
He said the heavy downpour, coupled with the thunderstorm, disorganised the ceiling of the block which is under renovation.
Mr Salifu disclosed that the place had been fixed and the children were expected to move back in the course of the week.
Water challenges at the hospital
On challenges with water at the hospital, Mr Salifu said one of the pipeline vaults that supply water to the hospital had broken down, forcing the authorities to rely on private water companies to supply water.
He said last Saturday, for example,15 water tankers had gone to serve all the departments, adding, �So we will continue this exercise until the problem is solved.�
Construction of the Children�s block
Responding to why the Children�s Block had not been renovated in the past, Mr Salifu said the hospital was on the threshold of starting work on the project when it received other proposals for the expansion of the block into a bigger facility.
�So we are now trying to integrate the new plan and the old one, so that we can have a much bigger place,� he said.
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