Suhum Children’s Hospital in distress; ‘Love Without Walls’ to the rescue

The children’s ward of the Suhum Government Hospital in the Eastern Region is in critical distress due to a lack of beds and ward space.

The situation forces health care officials at the facility to lay mattresses on the floor where patients are attended to.

This was revealed following a tour of the facility by Dr Hartford Dawson, leader of the ‘Love Without Walls’, an NGO spearheading the construction of a 150-bed new facility to serve as the children’s hospital at Suhum in the Eastern region.

The new facility, which is about 80 per cent complete, will also provide critical care, Neonatal services, laboratory, and pharmacy, among other services.

Hospital Administrator, Samuel Ghartey Frempong said, “Presently, the Suhum Government Hospital kids ward, I think the capacity is very low. We do get a lot of patients, and you can’t send patients away, so we have to provide mattresses for them to be on the floor and a host of others”.

Dr Hartford Dawson, who conceived the idea of putting up the hospital, explained that he decided to come to the aid of the people after he visited in 2014 on a missionary trip.

“In 2014, I came here on a missionary trip, and I visited the children’s ward, and my heart really broke because there weren’t enough beds. I think a total of eighteen beds, and I remember saying if I got 500 million dollars, I’ll build them a hospital, but in fact I didn’t have, and I still don’t have.”

I went back to the US very sick, fifty-nine days after leaving, I was actually on my sick bed, close to my death. I didn’t think I was going to make it. I felt that it was a pain I had to feel for the people of Suhum so that I could get them a hospital.”

I started to cry, and I heard the voice, name it “Love Without Walls’ because we need to love people like God loves people, love them without prejudice or colour or beliefs,” he explained.

Dr Dawson said after discussing it with his wife and a few friends, they started raising funds in 2014 and broke ground for the commencement of actual construction in 2016.

He was hopeful that the work would be completed and the official opening would be done in 2026.

“It is about 80 percent completed right now, so in terms of the structure itself, it’ll be finished in a couple of months. We do need about 30,000 dollars to finish the structure so we’re appealing to persons who want to donate to do that at Lovewithoutwalls.org.

Obed Sowa of KODAN Image Limited, the firm undertaking the construction, told journalists the company is to ensure that the facility is completed as designed to serve its purpose.

“In this building, we have the children’s ward, there’s a future idea of adding other things like the NICU and other stuff so that it will be a hospital on its own to serve the children in this community.

Currently, the down floor is a 75-bed and the top design will also be another 75-bed because the client was looking at a 150-bed hospital,” he stated

Before embarking on the visit to the facility, Dr Hartford Dawson met with the leadership of the Suhum Government Hospital and the traditional authorities to talk about the level of progress of the facility.

The Chief of Suhum, Osabarima Ayeh Kofi, expressed satisfaction with the level of progress of the facility, and appealed to benevolent individuals and groups, especially citizens of Suhum, to support such a worthy course.

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