Korle-Bu Polyclinic Records 70 Cholera Cases Daily

FACILITIES AT the Korle-Bu Polyclinic are getting stressed up as the clinic records about 70 cholera cases on daily basis since the outbreak of the preventable disease forcing officials to treat some patients on benches and wheel chairs. The facility, which has a bed capacity of 40, has so far recorded about 1,500 cases with four deaths and is now forced to use other wards for cholera cases as a means of containing the health crisis the country is facing. A medical officer at the Polyclinic, Dr. Gerhard Ofori Amankwa said this when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije led some of his officials to donate items to the facility. Dr. Amankwa stated that they are putting austerity measures in place such as construction of additional toilet and bathroom facilities for patients within the hospital so as to prevent them from accessing such facilities outside the clinic. Dr Amankwa explained that the situation needs serious attention and noted that it depends on the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to provide permanent facility that will contain all the cholera cases that come to their attention. Although he indicated that, the hospital is doing much to save the situation, he could not be specific whether the situation will be minimized any time soon, but stressed on the need for all to observe good personal hygiene and called on city authorities to ensure that the laws on food vending is applied. �We should all ensure that the right things are done, we need to observe good hygiene. Our staff should be motivated and other facilities provided for us to be able to address the shortfall and the challenges we face,� he said. The AMA CEO presented items including 100 boxes of bottled water, 19 boxes of soap, 40 mattresses, 40 blankets and 59 buckets. Presenting the items, Mr. Vanderpuije said the Assembly will donate additional amount of GH�1,000.00 to the Polyclinic to assist management in the construction of the toilet and bathroom facilities. The Mayor of Accra indicated that there was the need to raise environmental consciousness among the people to ensure clean environment and bring the issue of cholera outbreak to a close. Mr. Vanderpuije, however, bemoaned that majority of the people have shunned their responsibility of keeping their surroundings clean for the AMA forgetting that the biggest challenge about environmental sanitation rests with the people themselves. He further called for more commitment from stakeholders to ensure compliance of environmental standards and promised to ensure that most facilities that are in deficit at the Korle-Bu Polyclinic are provided within one week.