News
Help Effia Nkwanta hospital install equipment for COVID-19 patients
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.
National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Executive Committee member and Volta River Authority (VRA) Board Member, Wonder Victor Kutor, has described calls for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as premature and unjustified.
He argued that there was no evidence to establish that the minister had committed any wrongdoing to warrant such demands.
Speaking on Joy News in Accra on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Mr Kutor questioned what had changed to justify the growing calls for the minister to step down.
He recalled that the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had earlier indicated that the opposition was not accusing Mr Ablakwa of any wrongdoing.
Mr Kutor, therefore, challenged those demanding the minister’s resignation to provide fresh evidence to support their position.
“The call for the Minister to resign is premature, it is untenable. There is no evidence. I mean, what has he done wrong?” he questioned.
He added that documents, including boarding passes, airline receipts and flight manifests relating to the minister’s return journey, had been provided.
Mr Kutor expressed concern that the calls for Mr Ablakwa’s resignation could discourage young politicians from speaking out against corruption and advocating transparency.
According to him, politicians should not be targeted or maligned for demanding accountability, warning that such treatment could create the impression that speaking against corruption could later become a liability when one is appointed to public office.
He maintained that calling for accountability and transparency should not be used as grounds to target public officials without evidence of wrongdoing.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Ghana will host the Africa Festival of Arts, Culture and Creatives (AFESTAC) 2026 alongside Industrial Skills Week Africa (ISWA) 2026 in Accra from December 9 to 12, 2026.
On the back of these programmes, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has called on corporate Ghana, the media and the general public to support the initiative through partnerships, sponsorships and active participation.
The events, supported by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will bring together stakeholders to celebrate Africa’s rich cultural heritage, strengthen the creative economy, promote industrial skills development and create employment opportunities for young people.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
