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St. Anthony's Hospital in Dzodze
Dzodze, a town which comprises some 290,000 inhabitants including nearby villages, is situated in the southeast of Ghana. The hot and humid climate provides ideal breeding conditions for mosquitos. Two-thirds of the regional population are active in agriculture and livestock husbandry, while small-scale trade is carried out by just under one-third of the population, with some people employed as unskilled labourers. Living standards generally are very low.
In this region, and in addition for many people coming from nearby Togo where medical services are almost non-existent and even more expensive, Roman Catholic St. Anthony's is the only hospital available. There are no local doctors so, however far away they might be living sick people have to go up to St. Anthony's Hospital, the journey often being exhausting owing to poor infrastructure. The hospital accepts outpatients as well as inpatients. The staff also run outreach programmes, treating sick people in the nearby villages, as well as carrying out vaccination campaigns and offering training programmes on healthy food and on hygiene.
At present there are just three doctors shouldering this workload. Indeed it is very difficult to get good staff to this remote and poor area. Providing some kind of health services to the people has been possible only thanks to a great number of European doctors who use their holidays to come and do voluntary work there.
Considering the situation, GenoGyn, the cooperative of gynaecologists in the Rhineland, which is based in Cologne, has decided to provide a top-up funding for the post of one medical doctor in order to guarantee the hospital at least several years of uninterrupted services. Already medical equipment and appliances donated by gynaecologists have been shipped to the hospital and have improved working conditions.
Now an extension building to the clinic, started in the autumn of 2008, is to provide the space needed to cope with the growing number of patients seeking help that over the last years has doubled from 150 to 300 per day. An application to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ, to fund 75% of the total cost has been granted.
total cost: 77,281.00 Euros
BMZ: 59,568.00 Euros
aa/D: 17,713.00 Euros
On 17 December 2010 the ambulance was officially inaugurated during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the hospital.
However, we are still kindly asking for further donations for this hospital, so that we can continue in the future to help the poor, who would otherwise not be able to afford treatment or medications.