Management of the Savelugu School for the Deaf has commended Kosmos Energy Ghana, a leading deepwater exploration and production company, for providing a school clinic for the special school.

The company renovated, equipped and upgraded an existing infirmary housed in a dilapidated building to the status of a clinic for use by the school to take care of the students.

The new facility has a sitting area, consulting rooms, an air-conditioned ward with beds, and studio to serve as an assessment centre for the students, a building also fitted with a toilet and bathroom as well as furniture.

Aside from the clinic structure, the facility has also been stocked with medical supplies. The school hitherto had to travel several kilometres to access healthcare, including emergencies.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, the Director of New Ventures at Kosmos Energy Ghana, Mr. Appia Kyei said the company has a firm belief that the new facility will serve as a modern clinic and make it easier for the school to provide a safe place for healthcare, treatment and an isolation centre to mitigate and curb any outbreak.

Mr Kyei said as a responsible corporate citizen, Kosmos Energy Ghana decided to help enhance the standard of living in some Special Needs Schools in the country as part of its continuing social investment programme.

The decision to pay attention to the special schools was also in response to the lingering impact of Covid and external factors that had an immense negative impact on the most vulnerable members of our society.

Following an extensive assessment of humanitarian needs across the country by Kosmos Energy Ghana, he said, the existing shelter at the school used as an infirmary was not the best hence the decision to renovate and upgrade it to the standard of a school clinic and stock it with some medical supplies.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Savelugu, Ayishetu Seidu commended Kosmos Energy for demonstrating its corporate citizen identity, saying “We are happy you have identified that government cannot do it alone, hence the need for corporate support.”

The health of the children are very important, she said, adding “therefore, your intervention would go a long way to improve on teaching and learning in the school and save the school authorities from transporting the children to and from hospitals.”

The assistant head teacher of the school, Ms Fauzia Guonah said as the school grows, so is the awareness to give special attention to children who have special needs.

The school admits children from kindergarten to Junior High School with ages between four and 18, with the children coming from all parts of the Northern Region and beyond.

Ms Guonah said the school clinic has come at a time when the school needs it most, saying, “In the absence of the school clinic, the management of the school has faced with an uphill task of using its meagre resources to transport pupils to and from the Savelugu Hospital which is more than two kilometres away daily.”

“When a student is taken ill, the whole day has to be spent at the hospital since the children have a challenge communicating what is wrong with them to the hospital team – we have to be present and interpret the sign-language since nurses could not communicate in sign language,” she said.

With the school’s own clinic following the support from Kosmos Energy, she said nurses that would be posted to the clinic would be given sign-language lessons. “We will give them the opportunity to learn sign language to enable them to communicate directly with their patients instead of through interpreters.”

“Aside from the clinic which we now have, other top priorities of the school are the boys’ dormitory, dining hall, technical and vocational training centre for students which also need urgent attention and we will wish other companies would also take it up,” she said.

She explained that due to the current state of the boys’ dormitory which is without functioning washrooms, students and pupils are compelled to bathe outside at the mercy of the weather.

“We also need the technical unit to train the children to ensure that they step out of the school with skills that will set them up in business.”

The school

The school health services are very necessary in order to provide First Aid and triage (the preliminary assessment of patients or casualties in order to determine the urgency of their need for treatment and the nature of treatment required) for illness and injuries, to provide direct services for students with special needs, and to provide health counselling and education for students, staff, and parents.

The Savelugu School for the Deaf was established in March, 1978 with 12-pupils; eight boys and four girls. However, the school has over the years seen an increase in enrolment, bringing the current students population to 346, made up of 196 males and 150 females with 45 teaching and non-teaching staff.