The Ministry of Health has indicated that it is working tirelessly to establish a children’s dialysis unit at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern Region.
This follows the reportage that the shortage of pediatric dialysis machines and consumables had tragically led to the loss of 15 children at the Hospital since 2015.
Adam Yahaya Wanzam, the Nurse Manager of the Tamale Teaching Hospital Dialysis Unit, in an interview with Citi News, issued a desperate plea for assistance, urging the government, individuals, and non-governmental organizations to step forward and provide the life-saving equipment and supplies that are urgently needed.
Speaking in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Friday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Health Ministry, Isaac Offei Baah, said the ministry had received a number of proposals from the Tamale Teaching Hospital and had incorporated them into the 2024 budget.
He stressed that the ministry was therefore considering a number of interventions for healthcare facilities across the country to better position them for quality healthcare services.
“As a ministry, there have been a number of proposals that have come from the Tamale Teaching Hospital to the Ministry. The Ministry has factored in some of these needs in the budget of 2024. So we are looking at upgrading health facilities. We are looking at making some health facilities district hospitals, and we are looking at improving the standard of our teaching hospitals so that some of these situations and issues will be taken care of.”
“So, inasmuch as we admit the fact that there is no children’s dialysis unit at Tamale Teaching Hospital, the Ministry is working tirelessly to ensure that that is established so that both the adults’ dialysis unit and the children’s dialysis unit will work together to save the lives of the people of Tamale,” Mr. Baah stated.