By William Madouk
Residents of Aweil South County, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, have constructed their own healthcare facility in Panthou to address health issues in the area.
On Tuesday, the governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, Tong Akeen Ngor, inaugurated the Panthou primary healthcare center (PHCC), which was built with community-donated funds.
John Deng, the chairperson of the organizing committee, appreciated the community’s fundraising to construct two wards healthcare unit.
He outlined the challenges facing the community, such as roads, beds for the newly constructed wards, and electricity for the healthcare facility.
Furthermore, the medical director of Panthou PHCC stated that the facility has a shortage of medical professionals and medical items.
The medic called on the state government and well-wishers to support Panthou Health Care Center by constructing a fence to allow patience and privacy.
He appealed to health authorities to upgrade the Panthou primary health care to hospital level.
Moreover, the Aweil governor, Akeen, lauded the community’s steadfast and diligent efforts to renovate and build new admission wards that would provide health services to the residents.
In response to challenges, he pledged to provide twenty-five (25) beds and a big generator for the refurbished Panthou health care facility.
Mr. Akeen further promised to contribute SSP two million to enable the fundraising committee to clear outstanding arrears to over seven million South Sudanese pounds.
The governor also donated five million South Sudanese pounds for the construction of a blood bank in the facility.
“The state government will construct roads to connect the PHCC with the main road to make the movement easy,” said Akeen.
He further revealed that Panthou health care would now be upgraded to a county hospital.
Akeen reiterated his administration’s commitment to delivering services to all citizens in Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
The state minister of health, Ring Ring Laul, said the community act symbolized how communities can fundraise to address issues affecting them rather than depending on charity organizations.