Part II: Blessing the Holy Family Clinic in Kulmasa, Northern Ghana
Yesterday, the new Holy Family Clinic in Kulmasa, Northern Ghana, was blessed by the Catholic Bishop of Damongo, Bishop Peter Paul Angkyier, and inaugurated.
Sister Rita Amponsaa-Owusu continues to tell us the story of the family clinic which is eagerly awaited by many people requiring healthcare in the villages and communities surrounding Kulmasa.
Chapter 2 - The Holy Family Clinic, Kulmasa
Sister Rita recalls that the story of blessing the ‘family clinic’ on 30th September, 2024 started three years earlier on 1st October, 2021. The concept for the clinic began, very humbly, amidst a pile of boxes and limited logistics for public health in one corner in the sisters’ temporary accommodation. Now, she and Unit West Africa can hardly believe that, with God’s blessing, the family clinic has become what it is today.
The many guests, gathered in Kulmasa to celebrate the launch of the Centenary year of the Medical Mission Sisters on what is known as Foundation Day, saw Phase 1 of the proposed final structure for the family clinic. The new health facility is being built in a number of phases. When it is fully realised, the clinic is planned to have a bed capacity of 50 - with wards for male and female patients as well children. There is a total of 7,085 households to be served and Sister Rita tells us that she and her team intend to reach at least 5,000. In the first phase of the family clinic, in particular, those using the new services will include: outpatients who seek medical treatment; people who use the pharmacy; people who come for diagnostic tests, using the clinic’s laboratory equipment or ultrasound scan; women who give birth in the maternity unit or might need to use a small operating theatre which will have a capacity to offer Caesarean sections and other minor surgical procedures; and people who need care in medical emergencies. An ambulance will be available to enable the safe referral of patients to bigger facilities, such as the regional hospital in Wa. The clinic will have an equal opportunities policy in place to ensure that no-one is turned away on any discriminatory grounds.
From a public health team, which started very modestly with only 6 healthcare professionals three years ago, Sister Rita’s team has been expanded to include over 40 staff from all professional backgrounds, including: qualified doctors and enrolled nurses; a public health nurse; community health nurses; midwives; physician assistants; a disease control officer; a health information officer; bio-medical laboratory scientists; a radiographer, sonographer and anaesthetist; a nutritionist; a pharmacist; a pharmacy technician; an IT manager; a procurement manager; an accountant; an administrative manager; orderlies and security guards - among others. The public health team will continue its outreach in the villages, too.
The building that can be viewed in the images is partially equipped, and has been constructed, thanks to a major funding award from missio Aachen. It reflects German building standards because the funding was approved by the Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid (known as KZE) which, in turn, plays an oversight role on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (often called BMZ). We remain deeply grateful, not only for the financial support of this well-recognised German donor agency, but also for the tireless encouragement of its entire team. CHAG (Christian Health Association of Ghana), CHST (Catholic Health Service Trust) and the NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme) have had an additional influence on the plans because the building and healthcare delivery in it must also meet national and local standards.
CHAG, being a very influential actor in Ghana, will play an important role in ensuring the project's future sustainability - whether through support for salaries or ongoing supplies of medication. Strategic partnerships also lie with the district and regional, as well as diocesan, health directorates who were well represented at yesterday’s inauguration ceremony. They each have their own experience and expertise in quality standards for healthcare delivery and, as crucial partners, will contribute to the success of the new facility by providing inputs.
Equipping the new healthcare facility is being made possible through the generosity of many donors and partners in mission, especially in Europe and the USA - too many to name individually. They have most generously given funds: to construct additional buildings, such as a general service building, where the laundry is located, and much needed accommodation for some of the medical staff, working in this underserved, rural area; to provide modern medical equipment and solar energy to power it; to install IT systems; to purchase the ambulance, beds and other furnishings - the list is long. Sister Rita remains grateful to Jugend Eine Welt, based in Vienna, for its strong support in bringing some of the donors on board.
Yesterday, local chiefs, showing their customary kindness, offered a bull for roasting at the feast.
Across the world, yesterday was a day of joyful celebration and giving thanks for 100 Years of Healing Presence - especially in Kulmasa, Northern Ghana. Sister Rita says with great simplicity, “We are grateful to God who makes all things beautiful in His time. Everything we see here today of what the family clinic has become is God’s gift to us.”
As the Society’s founder, Anna Dengel, reflected during her lifetime: “[In the face of the social upheaval of our times and the fact that at least half the world is still deprived of the wonderful benefits of modern medical science available to the rest of the world, we can only, 'Pray the Lord of the Harvest' that our generation may not fail to realise that] … Only love can reconcile, only love can conquer hate, only love can win the peace we need.”
Thank you for listening to our story in Kulmasa. We shall continue to tell it, as it unfolds.
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