Ras Mubarak, a parliamentary candidate of the ruling NDC and Acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority has come to the aid of the King’s medical center in Kumbungu with the provision of an ambulance.
The director of the center Reverend Ben Owusu Sekyere commended Mubarak for the gift and said the ambulance will enable the center to provide healthcare to more residents of Kumbungu and its surrounding areas.
For a medical facility that has provided healthcare to rural folks for ten years, the timely provision of an ambulance is a much needed shot in the arm, a boost to its efforts to continue its good work, Sekyere said.
He said God had finally answered their prayers for an ambulance which came through Ras Mubarak, and added that several appeals were made to individuals and organizations to no avail.
The hospital was in dire need of an ambulance, Sekyere said and Ras Mubarak’s intervention will go a long way to help prevent maternal and child deaths in the Kumbungu district and beyond.
Reverend Sekyere also noted that the hospital is over patronized because of the quality service it provides to its clients drawn from the Northern and Brong Ahafo regions.
The hospital operates with only two small maternity wards which deliver 60 to 70 babies monthly, Reverend Sekyere said.
Kings Medical Center was established about 10 years ago by the pastor and his wife in Kumbungu to help provide better healthcare services to hard-to-reach communities in its catchment area.
It initially began with one medical doctor and a nurse but now can boast of a staff of 140 providing healthcare to over thousands of people including “overseas” communities such as Sinŋa and Maŋni.
The “overseas” communities, Reverend Sekyere said, use bicycles and motor bikes to transport sick people and pregnant women to the center for treatment. The new ambulance will reduce the burden, he noted.
A new maternity ward, he added, was being built by authorities with scant resources and appealed for support to help complete it to accommodate the increasing number of babies who are delivered.
Presenting the ambulance to the king’s medical center authorities, Mubarak said he was humbled and touched by the struggles of the people in the Kumbungu constituency. He also presented 600 Ghana cedis to fuel the ambulance and promised a monthly stipend of 200 Ghana cedis for fuel purchase.
Mubarak also announced that on October 20, doctors from Accra and nurses from Tamale will join their colleagues at king’s village in Buntanga to provide free medical screening to residents. The exercise will be repeated in the Kumbungu Township the next day, Mubarak said and urged everyone in the Kumbugu constituency to go for screening.
To dispel rumors that he had used his position as a government official to acquire the ambulance Mubarak provided documents showing how he acquired the vehicle. The transfer of ownership documents shows that the ambulance was shipped by Ras Mubarak’s Italian based friend.