With their depressed surface, rough rides, chaotic traffic, grime, pits, and asphalt fissures like alligator cracks, the roads leading to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital are turning into death traps.
The major route, formally known as Guggisberg Avenue, and the Ring Road West, often known as the Mortuary Road in popular culture, are intended for emergency health delivery, but given their poor character, they are more likely to endanger lives.
Guggisberg Avenue, which connects to the nation's top referral hospital, ought to be of the highest quality to accommodate the fast-moving ambulances and other vehicles that frequently use the hospital for emergency purposes.
Ambulances and other emergency vehicles have, however, been used to transfer patients to the nation's top referral hospital in times of need. Not only that, but commercial vehicles (rotors) have taken over the areas immediately surrounding the hospital's main entrance, causing congestion in the region.
80 paving cracks
On a tour of the region, The Daily Graphic noted that while the hospital's access road was anything but first-rate, its internal roadways had undergone minor re-asphalting and cosmetic improvements.
The major road has fissures, some of which are so wide that they may blow a tire.
The Daily Graphic recorded roughly 80 asphalt cracks and potholes along the stretch of road from the Bukom Arena Traffic Light via the Korle Bu Polyclinic to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Additionally, several of the traffic markers, like the Zebra crossing, had been partially removed from that section of the road, making them almost undetectable. Consequently, pedestrians had little alternative except to scan both sides of the road for approaching automobiles before attempting to cross.
Furthermore, considering that there were food sellers nearby and that the gutters on the sides of the road were open and unkempt, the scenario created a health risk.
Encroachers
Additionally, encroachment had occurred on the road's shoulders, where people were vulcanizing among other things. The shoulders of the road were also utilized by some car owners as a sanctuary and 'garage' for their automobiles.
It was noted that the road, which connected to the top referral hospital, was overcrowded and that using it for emergencies like childbirth and surgery was not the best idea.
Unworthy of status
Even though certain hospital staff members voiced alarm about the situation, particularly what was happening at the front door, they begged for secrecy so as not to be identified.
The utilization of the area just opposite the main entrance, which has been fully taken up by commercial vehicles, has been a troubling development. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do because it is up to the local government to handle it.
"However, because it was not addressed at the outset, it has become the status quo." It has been a problem since the dawn of time. But it's not ideal for a hospital that receives nationwide referrals, a representative remarked.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, some of the drivers who frequently travel the route lamented the condition of the road, emphasizing that it was unfit for the hospital.
As a result of the poor condition of the roads, we avoid getting our cars damaged by dodging these potholes. There will be a loss of productive man-hours for every delay in road repairs.
"The events along the route are also too many, and sometimes they generate traffic bottlenecks, which are not ideal for emergencies," says a motorist named Peter Ansah, who travels from Accra to Mamprobi and uses that route.
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