4,000 residents to benefit from Qatar Charity’s new health facility

The plight of some four thousand residents of Odumse, Siakonya, and Lardowayo in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region in assessing health care is over; thanks to the commissioning of a modern health center at Odumse on Thursday.

The project which was initiated by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shai Osudoku, Honourable Linda Akweley Ocloo, and funded by the Qatar Charity Foundation, an International Charity Organisation, will address decades of calls by the distraught residents for a befitting health center to cater for the health needs of the people.

The new facility comprises male and female wards, washrooms, isolation room, reception, consultation room, records department, nurses’ station, changing room, and a storeroom.

The residents say many have died with pregnant women in labour the worst affected because there was no health centre at the time.

The people had to travel on a bumpy road to access health care at the district capital, Dodowa.

The facility will also serve adjoining communities including Sota, Mangotsonya, and Abonya.

Officials of the Qatar Charity Foundation handed over the keys of the facility to the MP who also handed it over to the District Director of Health Services.

The clinic will provide a wide range of services specially designed for the needs of the populace including clinical care, maternal and reproductive health, nutrition, preventive care as well as mental health.

Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Adam, Country Director of Qatar Charity Foundation, explained that the decision to choose the beneficiary community bordered on its dire need for health facilities and the need for the Foundation to offer its support.

The country director who believes no community can develop with a sick populace was also grateful for the support from the government and communities, adding that the foundation would continue to offer its support to deprived communities and individuals in the country.

Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Adam also thanked the people for the support given to the Foundation during the construction of the edifice.

MP for the area, Linda Obenewaa Ocloo expressed regret at the yawning gap in access to healthcare in the district, a reason she expressed her gratitude to the Qatar Charity Foundation for supporting the District to bridge the gap in access to health facilities.

Spelling out the qualities of the center, the MP noted that its strategic location will avail its services to distressed residents of adjoining communities.

“This project is unique in its design. It is well placed and has the tendency to support a large number of people,” said the lawmaker. “Odumse is most accessible, it has fairly good links with other rural areas who can quickly call on the staff of the centre for minor and intermediate services.”

The legislator also implored the Regional and District Health Directors to assign hardworking health personnel to the facility and promised her support and that of the community to the personnel.

She thanked the chiefs and opinion leaders for supporting the project with land and admonished them to own the facility by ensuring its proper maintenance to ease the burden on the Dodowa Government Hospital.

The MP also applauded the District Director of Health and his staff “for their dedication and commitment to duty as well as professional outputs that have saved many lives.”

There are also ongoing efforts to ensure the provision of health care to other affected communities in the district, said Honourable Linda Ocloo.

District Director of the Ghana Health Services, Rev. Ebenezer Asiamah said the provision of a health facility for the communities was long overdue and expressed regret at the age-old absence of a health center to address the health needs of the affected communities.

He was however optimistic that the new facility will stand out as a critical supplier of all-inclusive medical interventions for all.

“This health facility will be the largest provider of high-quality comprehensive services for children, adolescents, and the adult population in the catchment area. We are however hopeful that in no time, this facility is going to grow to be one of the best facilities in the district,” he noted.

He commended the Qatar foundation for the gesture but appealed to authorities and benevolent organizations to assist in providing water supply, electricity, medical equipment, and furniture to make the facility fully operational.

Rev. Ebenezer Asiamah on behalf of health personnel who will run the facility, promised to put it to good use.

Chairman for the occasion and chief of Lardowayo, Nene Adzah Berdai V was also grateful for the establishment of the clinic.

Detailing the difficulties the community faced in assessing healthcare, the chief said residents had no choice but to travel through seven kilometers of bumpy roads to Dodowa for medical care whenever the need arose, a situation that posed so many inconveniences to them.

He however prayed to the Ghana Health Services to provide qualified health personnel and medical equipment to run the facility.



“The biggest bother has to do with pregnant women who must be transported during the night to the hospital, it’s a big problem and so the provision of this facility would really help,” an opinion leader said.

The Qatar Charity Foundation which operates in 60 countries, has been operational in Ghana since 2016 and has established 900 projects around Ghana in areas such as health, education, helping the poor, orphanages, and widows.