On 17th October, health educators from the Ghana Health Services attended the Kumawu Hospital site, to give health talks on prevention methods for malaria and typhoid.
The prevalence of both diseases is very high in this area due to the vegetation. Indeed, in September 2022, of 75 people that visited the Kumawu Polyclinic, 70 tested positive for malaria.
A total of 240 workers participated in the awareness training, with treated mosquito bed nets distributed to all.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 703,000 people a year take their life around the world. The WHO established 10th September as the World Suicide Prevention Day and as such, workers at Takoradi undertook training on suicide awareness and prevention.
Workers were taken through work and non-work related factors that could lead to suicidal thoughts, with discussions focusing on:
On 9th September, two health educators from Kumawu Polyclinic conducted training at the Kumawu Hospital site to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and the use of HIV/AIDS prevention methods.
Between January to July 2022, a total of 170 people from the surrounding area were screened for HIV, with 19 of those testing positive. With the number of recorded infections increasing, training included the identification of symptoms, stages of HIV/AIDs and the safe use of condoms. 217 workers in total participated, with condoms distributed to all.
On 24th August, an occupational health day was organized with the local hospital, in which hypertension awareness and screening were conducted on site at Takoradi. Two nurses from Ghana Health Service delivered talks surrounding the risk factors of hypertension, prevention, treatment, and control.
Four workers displayed hypertensive indicators that were beyond the medically acceptable ranges and their movements and activities will be monitored on site. Workers were appreciative of the exercise and have requested visits of other field experts to site.
Continued activity on site at Fomena and Kumawu, with refinement throughout the year on re-establishing supply chains, procurement, sourcing new suppliers, sub-contractor negotiations, design co-ordination and the programme via weekly meetings have provided the confidence that these facilities will be delivered within updated contractual timelines. Full-scale construction works are expected to
commence in Q1 2022, post funding effectiveness.
In preparation for this, gradual mobilisation has started with Stephen Bush (GM) in country, new office premises identified, HSE & Office Managers hired and a flurry of interviews for other positions underway.
The final paperwork required to make the loan effective has now been received by Barclays and the lenders. This marks a major milestone in completing these facilities and NMSI are most grateful to the work undertaken by the Ministries of Health and Finance in enabling this.
The Shai-Osudoku Hospital was the first facility within the Ghana Health Programme and was handed over to the Ministry of Health early in 2016.
Following a tour of the District Health Facility in April 2018, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Marshidiso Moeti, identified the NMSI built Hospital at Dodowa as possibly a new benchmark for health facilities in Africa in terms of infrastructure and service delivery. “This facility is unique and is setting the standard for the region and I am so impressed about everything here”, she said.
In terms of delivery outcomes, the hospital has outperformed UN SDG3, setting high standards worth emulating across the Continent.
Dr Moeti also vowed that the facility’s operational strategy and successes were something she was going to learn more about in order to replicate the system in other health institutions in Ghana, and across Africa.
Indeed, the facility declared its mission for zero tolerance for maternal deaths and has since handover, continued with this commitment to achieving zero maternal deaths over the years.
Medical Director, Dr Kennedy Brightson, has restated his team’s commitment to the highest standards of patient care while striving to maintain the hospital and its landscaped surroundings to the highest standards.
Dodowa Hospital is now the leading hospital in the Shai-Osudoku region, serving a catchment area of 250,000 population (up from 50,000 catchment of the old hospital it replaced), with patients coming from as far as Burkina Faso and Togo.
President Akufo-Addo, together with the Hon. Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, local MPs and traditional Chiefs visited the 120-bed facility at Fomena Hospital on 4th November 2020 to inspect the progress made.
Fred Hsu and Kwadwo Oware represented NMSI and guided the President and officials on their tour of the facilities. The NMSI-Soland team has successfully transformed the site from ‘dormancy’ into a vibrant construction site in just a few weeks.
The event was a great success in showcasing the quality of workmanship in advance of the reactivation of the UKEF-backed loan and was attended by several hundred guests, including Ghana Health Service employees and local stakeholders.
On Friday 10th May 2019, TV3 Ghana featured the Shai Osudoku Dodowa District Hospital to highlight its “zero maternal mortality rate for the past 5 years”.
The new hospital facilities constructed by NMS Infrastructure receives positive reviews from the hospital’s management team, the MOH and the World Health Organisation, while the Minister of Health discusses the hope for the full project to restart soon.
Footage courtesy of TV3 Ghana:
Website – 3news.com/
YouTube – youtube.com/user/TV3Gh/featured
Facebook Page – facebook.com/TV3GH/
The menstrual health programme sponsored by NMSI, A Child Unheard (ACU) and Ruby Cup in conjunction with the NMSI-supported Community Health Planning Clinic in Ayenyah is progressing well.
The uptake of the programme within the community has continued to grow and there are now 83 women and girls who have been educated and trained in menstrual health and how to use the Ruby Menstrual Cup.
The distribution of the Ruby cups started on the 9th January 2017, when the school re-opened after the festive break. Once distribution has been completed, the programme will be monitored on a monthly basis to ensure that the impact of introducing the Ruby Menstrual cups is understood
The hope is that there will be improvements in both the girls and women’s health as well as seeing an improvement in the girl’s attendance at school.
NMSI provides a full design/build/equip/train service for the development of locally appropriate health-related infrastructure. NMSI brings to bear the expertise of award-winning experts in the field to provide the latest in innovation and design.
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