businessman and philanthropist, Sir Clement Akapame, has constructed a centre for women and children with about Gh¢4 million (today’s equivalent of $390,316) from his own purse to ease decades-old congestion at St. Lucas Catholic Hospital in Builsa North, a municipality in Ghana’s Upper East Region.
The 48-bed facility, named “Rev. Fr. Philippe Marneffe Child and Maternity Centre” after a French missionary, sits on the hospital’s 6 acres at Wiaga, a town located about 1 kilometre south of Builsa North’s capital, Sandema.
Hundreds of people thronged the hospital Saturday from far and near, gathering in front of the centre in their numbers to witness its commissioning ceremony.
The medical director of the hospital, Dr Kennedy Ngaaso, was set to share with the crowd the challenges that necessitated the philanthropist’s intervention. But just moments before he was due to do that, he had to attend to a medical emergency at a ward.
The hospital’s administrator, Ndego Ben Abdallah, was not prepared for any prepared speech. But, stepping in for the ward-busy director, he delivered the written address like a well-rehearsed paper.
“The average annual ANC (antenatal care) registration is 400 and the average annual delivery is 500. Out of this number of deliveries, about 20 to 30 are premature deliveries. As a major referral facility, the capacity of the maternity lying-in ward, which is only an 11-bed capacity ward, poses a great challenge during peak seasons.
“The absence of a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) even makes it more worrying particularly in the case of premature deliveries. The paediatric ward is only a 6-bed capacity ward with a bed occupancy rate of 90%. Due to its limited capacity, we are often compelled to admit children into the adult ward, which is against standard practice,” he said.
Continuing, he added: “Despite our challenges, we owe our successes to God and to all our benefactors. On this day, we celebrate Sir Akapame and his family for the great benevolence they have shown the facility.”
Days of dependence of Church in Africa on America and Europe over— Sir Akapame
The philanthropist attended the ceremony with his wife, Theresa, who read a handover speech on his behalf at the event.
He said the project was his family’s contribution to the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese “for the promotion of the health needs of the people of Wiaga and its surrounding towns.”
“It has always been my strong conviction that it is the duty of the lay faithful to support the Church to carry out the various projects it is undertaking with particular reference to health, education and other socio-economic projects.
“We have to realise that gone are the days when the Church in Africa had to depend on Europe and America for carrying out its evangelisation activities. There is very little financial assistance coming from these continents this time round,” he noted.
He expressed his gratitude to God for making the execution of the project possible and to his wife and children for their encouragement. He also commended the presiding priest of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Parish in Wiaga, Rev. Fr. George Asigre, for playing what he described as a great role in the supervision and execution of the project.
“There is no doubt in my mind that without him the project would not have been completed this early,” he said, referring to the priest.
Sir Akapame also celebrated what he termed as “the invaluable role” the Catholic Church had always played in education and health services “not only for Catholics but all people irrespective of their religious beliefs.”
“It is a known fact that the Catholic Church is second only to the Government when it comes to the provision of health services not only in this diocese but in the whole country,” he stated.
Appeal and warnings from Bishop
Other notable figures in attendance were: the Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Fr. Alfred Agyenta; the Chief of Wiaga, Nab Akanfebayueta Asuik II; former Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Thomas Kofi Alonsi; the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Builsa North, Solomon Akogti Ansoabayie; and the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Builsa South, Anne Musah, among others.
Addressing the gathering, Bishop Agyenta said the Akapame family had been involved in every ongoing project in every parish within the diocese.
“And, so, there are no words of gratitude [good] enough to thank Sir Clement and his family. He said he’s handing this project (the child and maternity centre) to the diocese. We want to say we are very grateful for all that you have done for the diocese.
“What touched me most is the element of promoting life and touching people’s lives. You are not a priest, you are not a missionary, but you have evangelised— not by preaching the Gospel but through [love]. And I pledge on behalf of the Catholic Health Trust that this building is going to be properly maintained,” he said to an outburst of cheers from the crowd.
But the bishop also urged all mothers and women to avoid waiting too long at home when due for delivery before they began their journey to the facility. He stressed that a lot of lives were being lost as people failed to make good use of the health facilities at their disposal.
“So, I want to appeal to all our mothers— and all the men who are here; I know you have wives, you have sisters— no woman should die giving life, and no child should die even before they are born. Let us make good use of this building,” he stressed.
Bishop’s concerns about barriers
The bishop further warned the staff of the hospital against any acts that could undermine the output and corporate image of the facility and the church.
He asked them to uphold “professionalism, competence and respect for human dignity” as their guiding principles in the discharge of their duties.
“Structures are nothing if the human beings who are supposed to function or operate in them are not up to standard. We may have a beautiful building, but if our personnel are not capable, not competent and not diligent, lives can be lost.
“We want to appeal to all those who work here to maintain the values of Christ and of your profession as caregivers so that when people come here, they don’t get into trouble because of the reception and they don’t get into trouble because they don’t get the right competence,” he emphasised.
He further pointed out: “In fact, that is what the Catholic Health Trust stands for. We make a difference because of the way we treat our patients. And, so, if there is no difference between the way we treat our patients here and the way the government or the public facilities treat them, then we have no business entering into this place.”
The bishop concluded by entreating the management to refurbish the hospital’s dilapidated structures from its internally generated fund so it could look uniform with the structure the philanthropist just handed over. Those old structures the bishop was referring to are the first things visitors see on entering the hospital’s premises. The newly commissioned centre is situated behind them.
The bishop was worried that if those buildings were not given a facelift, some patients who might be unaware that a new child and maternity centre had been erected behind them would walk away on seeing the dilapidated part from the entrance. In other words, those old structures, if not ‘cleared’ from the roadway by way of renovation as he suggested, could serve as barriers to the maximum gains expected from newly commissioned centre.
Comments from local authorities
The Rev. Fr. Philippe Marneffe Child and Maternity Centre, according to the architect who designed the project, George Kolog Gbinniiya, holds a theatre, a NICU, nurses’ station, a labour ward, a delivery ward, a recovery ward and general wards.
An impressed Upper East Regional Public Health Nurse, Monica Lamisi, who represented the Upper East Regional Health Directorate at the function, told the crowd “I don’t think we (Ghana Health Service) can put up something like this.”
The Chief of Wiaga shared the same sentiment when he took his turn to address the ceremony, describing the centre as “a wonderful gift” not only to Wiaga but the entire Builsa area.
“This is a gift that will last generations. Our children’s children will come to be witnesses of the edifice we have seen today. The people of Wiaga will never forget Sir Clement,” he remarked through an interpreter.
Then, he installed the philanthropist at the event as a “development chief”— a decision he said he reached after consulting his sub-chiefs, queen mothers and elders.
He also presented traditional regalia to the philanthropist and told him he had become “one of the chiefs that will oversee development in Builsa land.”
The MCE of Builsa North together with his Builsa South counterpart thanked Sir Akapame on behalf of their respective local government areas and assured him that the facility would be well maintained.
Godfrey Aboalik, the Assembly Member for Yisobsa, an electoral area under Wiaga, recounted how recalled how the hospital got so overwhelmed during a cholera outbreak some years ago a huge number of patients flooded the wards and corridors of the facility.
“People were packed here. They could not have any place. They were lying on verandas. So, this particular project they have given us today will [meet] our heath needs and [relieve] us of the trauma we are going through. We want to say we are very grateful,” he said.
The hospital has been around for 75 years, starting off only as a dressing room inside a structure built with mud. It was managed from the onset by Rev. Fr. Philippe Marneffe, a missionary with a medical background, before it morphed in stages over the years into what it is today.
Sir Akapame, a native of Gbedema, a town in the Builsa South District, was still a schoolboy when he had an encounter with the French missionary in Wiaga and was inspired by his selfless service to the people of the village.
During an interview with journalists on the day the new child and maternity centre was commissioned, he recalled that Rev. Fr. Marneffe always got very angry each time somebody died “because these were little, little things he thought he could help.”
Years later, Sir Akapame met some women standing by the roadside as he was driving a pickup from Wiaga towards Navrongo one day. The women had in their midst a sick person who was in need of transportation to the Navrongo War Memorial Hospital. They requested help from him. He offered the help. But the person died on arrival.
“Just at the entrance of the hospital they said the person had died, so I should send them (the women and the dead person) back. Then, I got so moved,” he told the press.
“All the efforts I had made to save this person…so, I said to myself that: ‘Whatever happens, I will build something.’ That is how I started this (Rev. Fr. Philippe Marneffe Child and Maternity Centre) 3 years ago.”
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
