In the past, people transported dead bodies from Kintampo to Techiman or Sunyani and sometimes Kumasi for preservation while they planned befitting burial for these loved ones.

People will now be spared of the drudgery associated with conveying dead bodies to these distant places as the Member of Parliament for the Kintampo North Constituency, Hon. Stephen Kunsu, has equipped the Kintampo Hospital mortuary with 50 brand new fridges at cost of GH¢ 49,400.

The stainless-steel-cold mortuary room, which was supplied and installed by PRESCOLD HOLDING REF & A/C SERVICES, has the capacity to contain 100 dead bodies at a time and also has a 12 – month warranty during which any manufacturer’s defect will be corrected at no cost.

Welcoming people to a short ceremony in Kintampo to commission and handover the facility to the hospital, the Acting Director of Ghana Health Service, Madam Alice Afuah Vorleto, said that management was relieved of the stress and frustration of having to contend with a 12 – capacity mortuary fridge which frequently broke down.

Madam Vorleto thanked the MP for his role in health care delivery in the area, promising that the fridges would be well maintained and put to good use.

The Presiding Member of the Kintampo Municipal Assembly, Mr Gabriel Gyinde Mensah, who held brief for the Municipal Chief Executive, re-affirmed the assembly’s position to support management of the hospital to address its needs.

Mr Mensah underscored the significance of the new facility as it would allow health professionals to undertake proper postmortem of bodies to determine the cause of death among others.

Speaking at the function, Hon. Stephen Kunsu (MP) intimated that it took intense lobbying and negotiation behind the scenes until he settled in funding the project.

Hon. Kunsu exhorted management of the hospital to take good care of the facility, adding that he was in the process of building CHPS compounds for the municipality.

The Acting Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Apio Gavin, used the platform to enumerate some successes chalked by management of the hospital among which include the installation of an oxygen plant at the theatre, the prevention of maternal deaths in 2013, and the effective collaboration forged with the College of Health, Kintampo to train Medical Assistants on one hand and the Kintampo Health Research Centre to do research papers on the other.

Dr. Apio also appealed to stakeholders to assist the hospital to solve some of its challenges, including the building of a VIP ward.

The Kyeremankumahene, Nana Effah Guakro IV, who chaired the function, responded to the hospital’s appeal for a VIP ward by pledging Gh¢ 1,000.

Cyril Yabang/ISD