Nursing training school closed down in Ashanti region

The Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem Nursing Training College at Tafo Nhyiaeso in the Old Tafo Municipality of the Ashanti region risks a possible temporal shutdown for infringing on sanitation bylaws.

The authority of the school has been accused of directly connecting its toilet pipelines into gutters and discharging human excreta into the open drains causing negative health implications in the neighbourhood.

The Municipal Environmental Health Director, A. G Offin Boateng stated that steps are being taken to seek a court order to shut down the school to force the school authorities to find a lasting solution to the problem.

He explained: “We had a call from Tafo Nhyieaso that there was something going on, and so, we should come and see with our naked eyes”. Two of his officers, he said, were dispatched to the area and upon reaching the scene, “it was a nasty thing. The whole place was scattered with faeces and there was a pipeline coming from a toilet discharging into the open drains”.

Mr Boateng noted that when the principal of the school was approached, he dared them to send him to court.

He indicated that preparations are underway to send the authority of the school to court to serve as a deterrent to others “and when we get to the court, we’ll plead with the honourable court to close down the school until such a time that sanitation issues are at its best”.

Mr Boateng cautioned that if nothing is done about the situation, there could be cholera outbreak in the area.

He further advised residents discharging faeces into open drains to stop or face prosecution.

Meanwhile, the Principal of the school, Mr Owusu King Samuel, while describing the accusation as an attempt to tarnish the reputable image of the school, said he has not received any court summon requiring him to appear before it.

He alleged that the environmental health officers came to his office seeking for a sponsorship which he could not offer.

He said they later came back to tell him that he has infringed on the sanitation bylaws for connecting the school’s toilet pipelines into gutters which he has since described as palpably false.

He said the officers could not give him any court summon or paper showing that he has committed the offence but admitted asking them to send him to court.

He noted that he will rather appear in court than pay bribes to the officers