Ho Teaching Hospital to pilot Rotary Club’s mobile clinic project
The Ho Teaching Hospital has become the beneficiary of a pilot project by the Rotary Club to support health delivery in the country with mobile clinic systems.
The project, widely known as the “dream” of Right Reverend Matthias K. Medadues-Badohu, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ho, is being built upon a two-million-dollar annual fund secured through the support of the Rotary Club of Grand Manan, Canada.
The Rotary Club of Ho bought into the long-nurtured dream of the bishop, which is to remove all barriers to healthcare, and begun a relentless pursuit of initiatives towards its realization, and which attracted the support of the Grand Manan Club.
Robert Griffin, Member of the Canadian Club, who also is a Member of the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton, Canada, said at the commissioning ceremony, that the project plans to provide mobile healthcare systems throughout the country after a successful Volta pilot.
“We consider this a prototype. If it’s successful, it will be scaled up,” he stated, promising sustained partnership among all stakeholders towards growth of the project.
An elated and emotional Bishop Medadeus- Badohu said the project gave flesh to his vision and recounted the events that culminated in the establishment of the mobile clinic.
He said the Diocese would ensure strict monitoring and support for the unit, and that a chaplain would be attached to the unit to provide spiritual guidance and healing where needed.
The Teaching Hospital received a $270,000 mobile clinic van stuffed complete with the needed equipment and tools for off-grid medical care, which includes a standby generator and medical tents.
The facility would be managed by a tripartite committee of the Hospital, the Club, and the Diocese.
Dr John Tampouri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Teaching Hospital said the mobile clinic would move along areas where specialist care is not assessable and would transform the ways of assessing care.
“We want to change the direction of movement Instead of people coming here, we want to go to people,” he said.
The CEO also noted the impact on community health outreach programming and said it would be also helpful in providing the needed feedback for geo specific health policing.
Mr Simon Awumey, President of the Rotary Club of Ho, said the project fell under the disease prevention and health mandate of the Club, and had been four years in the making.
He said and MoU among the various partners had been signed to guide the implementation, and that the realization and success showed the “beauty of leadership in Rotary,” which had long supported the Hospital.
“The Ho Teaching Hospital is for us, and we are committed to making it better and better,” The President of the Club stated, adding that it considered the maintenance and sustainability of the project very crucial.
Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister said the Region was grateful for the initiative, and commended stakeholders for the efforts at universal health coverage.
He was particularly enthused about the health education prospects of the project, which remained key to health awareness and disease prevention, and said the government continued to appreciate private and non-profit contributions to the health sector.
The Rotary Club of Grand Manan also donated advanced eye screening equipment to the eye care department of the Teaching Hospital.
Source: GNA