The residents of Paala, a predominantly farming community in the Wa West District, say bad roads linking the community to other areas have been a bane of their timely access to healthcare services.
They said pregnant women, children and the aged in that community were the worst affected in times of health emergency due to the ordeal they had to go through in accessing healthcare services at Dorimon, Piise or Wechiau, which were several kilometres away from Paala.
“When I was about to deliver, my husband picked me on a motorbike, and because the road was not good and the hospital was also far, I delivered on the way.
“However, a nurse at the Wechiau hospital fined my husband GH₵200.00 for allowing me to deliver in the house, which was not his fault,” Madam Radiatu Sumaila, a resident, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the community.
Madam Fatti Dabaala, also a resident, said pregnant women sometimes developed complications during the delivery due to the long distance they had to be transported by a motorbike on a bad road to the health facility during labour periods.
She said some women died through those complications or lost their babies after delivery which she indicated was a source of worry.
The residents, therefore, appealed to the Wa West District Health Directorate and the District Assembly to come to their aid by bringing healthcare services closer to them to ease their challenges in accessing the services during emergencies.
Another challenge the residents identified was access to clean water in a community of about 500 inhabitants that depended on a single borehole.
Madam Dabaala said the situation compelled some women to trek close to six kilometres to the Black Volta River to fetch unwholesome water, which was affecting their health and impacting negatively on their economic activities.
Meanwhile, Mr Zimbe Yussif Badia, the Assembly Member of the Sigri Electoral Area, said he had raised the issues of the health facility for the Paala and its surrounding communities, and access to potable water and a school at the Paala community at Assembly meetings.
He, however, said the District Assembly kept giving assurances of providing a health facility for the community but was not taking any step in that regard.