Kosmos Energy Ghana (KEG), a leading deepwater exploration and production company has handed over a well-equipped newly built school clinic to Senya Senior High School in the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region.
The facility is expected to benefit more than 1,540 students and 110 teaching and none teaching staff of the school.
The fully air-conditioned facility is equipped with supplies such as four new modern hospital beds, four side cabinets, four oximeters, two non-contact infra-red thermometers, two weight scales, first aid boxes, 20 disposable gloves.
The rest of the medical supplies include two Blood Pressure (BP) monitors, four glucometers, two medicine cabinets, a ward nurses cabinets, a three steps trolley, fourfold screen, an examination couch, chairs for nurses and patients, wheelchair, disposable syringes, table and chairs for nurses to facilitate the work staff.
The school management said the clinic was timely and that in the night, if a student is reported sick, due to the lack of school clinic the sick students have to be lying on the bare ground in front of the school gate, whilst they make frantic arrangements for a means of transport to take them to the hospital.
The company said the focus of its social investment programme in 2024 and beyond was that aside from what it provides jointly in collaboration with Jubilee and TEN Fields Joint Venture partners.
It said its support was to offer humanitarian relief to some of the less endowed senior high schools in the country to improve the learning experience of students.
At the handing over ceremony, the Senior Vice-President and Head of Ghana Business Unit of Kosmos Energy Ghana, Mr. Joe Mensah recalled that prior to the current project, there was a donation of 3200 student mono-desks to four Senior High Schools – Savelugu SHS, Ningo SHS, Prampram SHS, and Tsiame SHS in the Northern, Greater Accra and Volta regions respectively.
Kosmos Energy Ghana, he said decided to expand its humanitarian support programme to the Central Region and was of the firm belief that the government cannot do it all.
“Kosmos Energy selected Senya Senior High School in the Awutu Senya to support – after a careful review of the needs presented by the management of the school. We at Kosmos Energy agreed to build a clinic for the school and stock it with essential medical supplies to serve the needs of the students”.
“We believe that the new facility will not only enable the school to provide timely First Aid to students, but also a safe isolation facility to prevent the spread of any communicable diseases should any occur,” he said.
The KEG Humanitarian Relief Initiative he said began in 2022, with a focus on schools with special needs. “It has supported four schools that cover children with special needs in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti, and Northern regions.”
The company, he said takes pride in these projects which are part of KEG’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) Initiative “to provide humanitarian relief to complement the efforts of government and Parent Associations of schools that are in need”.
The company acknowledges the importance of education in the growth and prosperity of the countries in which it operates, hence this initiative.
Mr. Mensah urged the students to take their studies seriously and ensure the success in their respective academic works.
The Headmaster of the School, Mr. Ebenezer Nana Wilson said during emergencies especially at night, skeletal staff on campus have to wait anxiously for tricycle (Pragia) to carry a sick student to the hospital.
The support by Kosmos Energy he said was not just important but human and lifeline which will go a long way to support the school to attend to the needs of the students.
Mr. Wilson said the school lacks basic infrastructure, saying “students’ population in our boarding house has seen an increase hence the urgent need for additional facilities for both boys and girls.”
The Central Regional Director of Education, Mr. Emmanuel Essuman, said the importance of a well-equipped school clinic cannot be overstated.
“Health and education are intrinsically linked; when our students are healthy, they are better equipped to learn, thrive, and achieve their fullest potential,” he said.
Mr. Essuman commended Kosmos Energy and assured that the clinic would serve as a safe space where students could receive immediate medical attention, guidance, and support and urged medical professionals who will be managing this clinic to employ compassion, and commitment to the well-being of the students.
The Member of Parliament for the area, Mrs. Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui who is an architect, commended the company for the choice and pledged support for Senya SHS and other schools in the area.
“As an architect and politician, with strong background in architecture and project management, I will always advocate for infrastructure development in my constituency” she said.
She thanked Kosmos Energy for the support and highlighted her discussions with the Minister for Works, Housing, and Water Resources to build district accommodation and improving teachers’ welfare.
Mrs. Tetteh-Agbotui also outlined her achievements in the health sector, including: renovations of CHPS zones, New clinic for Obrachire, Bawjiase Emergency centre, free eye, hernia and fibriod surgeries among others.
She pledged to continue supporting the school, aiming to make Senya SHS one of the best in the country.
