The furnished clinic consists of Out Patient Department (OPD), consulting rooms, a laboratory, delivery rooms, male and female wards, a special ward, accounts office, a pharmacy, wash rooms for staff and patients among others. The project also includes doctors’ bungalow and nurses’ quarters. Other facilities are the extension of power with a dedicated transformer, a plancenta pit and waiting shed, extension of water from mains and connection of electricity to the bungalows. The bungalows are to serve the accommodation needs of health workers who would work at the facility.
At a short ceremony to hand over the keys of the bungalows to the community, Mr. Joshua Mortoti, the General Manager of Newmont Akyem Mines, emphasised Newmont’s purpose to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining, hence the execution of development projects in their host communities. He further stated that the gesture formed part of their corporate social responsibility strategy that includes commitment to shared value with communities in their catchment area. This commitment, he added formed the basis for the development and signing of Social Responsibility Agreements by Newmont. He mentioned some sustainable social investments funded by the Foundation to include educational scholarships to secondary, vocational and tertiary training institutions, infrastructural and social amenities, youth development and promotion of culture, business development and economic empowerment, among others.
Mr Mortoti said the source of NAkDeF social investments were funded from one percent of Newmont Akyem mine pre-tax profits and US$1 per oz of gold sold. He further stated that the project was built for the purpose of improving health care delivery in the mine’s host communities and the District at large. Mr Mortoti therefore encouraged community members and the health practitioners to play their respective roles in good faith to manage these facilities very well to achieve the purpose for which it was built. Receiving the keys on behalf of the Health Center, Mr. Thomas Azurago, the District Director of Ghana Health Service, applauded NAkDeF for the gesture and pleaded that the facility be fenced for the safety of the workers and patients who patronize the facility.
Nana Kofi Owusu Amoh III, the Chief of Akyem Afosu also promised to avail a 30-acre land to the Health Center for any future expansion and pleaded to the Birim North District Assembly to provide streetlights in the area to avoid petty thefts.