In Ghana, several squatters and staff members of the Pantang hospital have been forced to occupy uncompleted and dilapidated buildings that have been declared unsafe after a structural integrity test by the Ministry of Health in 2021.
Originally built to house hospital staff, the building has become a makeshift home for nursing students and other residents of the community, despite warnings from hospital management to vacate the premises.
Also Read: ECG’s equipment are dangerously obsolete, mgt must work urgently to replace them – Kwabena Donkor.
A recent visit to Pantang on March 16, 2023, revealed that the structure was still being used despite its terrible state. The building exhibits various forms of cracks and leakages, exposed and rusted iron rods, and exposed wires.
All the stairs connecting the ground floor to the other floors were in total ruin. One of the stairs in the Okonkwo Building had been constructed with rotten wood and the structure was crooked, yet the occupants of the building still used it unconcerned.
While some residents claim they were given accommodation by the hospital, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Frank Baning, refutes the claims and states that none of the occupants can show that they were given a letter to live in such a structure. Dr. Baning is pushing for the building’s demolition due to the hospital’s location on Ghana’s earthquake fault lines.
Also Read: UBA Ghana Recognized for Contribution to Fight Against Covid-19
He fears that if staff are not careful, the building will collapse on them. Despite numerous warnings and appeals to evacuate the premises, some residents have nowhere else to go and continue to live in the building.
The fact that residents live in the building rent-free is an indication that their stay was not sanctioned by the hospital’s management. The occupants have appealed to the Ministry of Health, and the matter is currently being dealt with by a team made up of engineers and security personnel who have recommended the building’s demolition.