The Member of Parliament (PM) for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Samuel Dzata George, has called for the creation of an administrative region for the five fast-growing densely-populated Dangme constituencies along the East Coast of the Greater Accra Region.
According to the MP, industrial and residential expansion in the area, coupled with the population density, have clearly outstripped the social amenities and administrative services available, especially in the area of security and health; hence the need for such an administrative region to address these critical needs.
He stated that administratively Kpone-Katamanso, Shai Osudoku, Ningo-Prampram, Sege and Ada are all under the Tema region, and receive essential services like security, health and others from the Tema administrative region, though they are all under the Greater Accra Region.
“Greater Accra is a Region, but administratively, within policing and health service provision, Tema is a region. The Police has Tema as a region within Greater Accra, and the same applies to the Ghana Health Services (GHS) as well. So, I am calling for a Dangme region as well in relation to security services, and health service.
“When we have this Dangme administrative region, it will allow as to have a regional hospital like the Tema General Hospital that served the entire region at the time of establishment,” he said.
He emphasised that the Tema General Hospital at the time of establishment was big enough to serve the entire enclave from Tema to Ada, but the population size of the area has tripled over time – putting so much pressure on the facility.
“We need to develop health facilities and policing to catch up with population growth in the area, and so if we have a Dangme Administrative Region – for Police Service and GHS, Ghana Fire Service and Ghana Education Service among others – it will serve these five constituencies which constitute about 23 percent of the Greater Accra population.
“So, all I am saying is that it is time for us to focus and have a plan for these five constituencies so the people in these communities can have better health service and security,” he reiterated.
Paramount among others is the regrettable fact that sick persons have to be transported from these communities to Tema General Hospital for critical health issues that are beyond the control of the under-resourced polyclinics in the five mentioned constituencies; and in several instances the sick person loses his/her life because of bad roads and severe traffic.
“There are many cases when a pregnant woman comes to Prampram polyclinic and her baby is breeched; they have to transport the woman all the way to Tema because the health facility here does not have the capacity to perform such a basic medical procedure. On some occasions because of the bad road and heavy traffic, the women lose their babies before getting to Tema General Hospital,” Mr. Sam George explained
For emphasis, the MP said he is not calling for the creation of a political region out of Greater Accra, just an administrative one in relation to specific essential services like Tema is an administrative region.
