The Catholic Health Professionals Guild of the Catholic Professionals Guild (CATHPROG-CPG) celebrated the World Day of the Sick with housemates at the House of St. Francis Clinic and Rehabilitation Center, Ashaiman.
In a sermon delivered by Rev. Fr. David Amissah Andoh, Director for the department of marriage and family life, he admonished all to trust and rely on each other, stating that life goes beyond what we see and we must learn to trust and show love to those around us.
Speaking with the Priest in Charge of the facility, Rev. Fr. Eric Kabenlah, he stated that, the current facility has been in existence since 2012 and it is a collaboration between Hopeway Foundation and the Archdiocese of Accra.
He said, “We used to be only a rehabilitation center that houses 25 housemates and it used to be only males but now, we are a clinic and a rehabilitation center and also with the capacity to accommodate 75 housemates including females. Currently we have about 60 persons staying in the facility and undergoing recovery”.
He added that the facility has limited resources, saying, “Resources available are limited hence we do not really encourage walk in services and do not forcefully admit clients. Treatment process is usually 3 to 6 months.”
He further stated that, the facility is now under the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), appealing to individuals and the Catholic community to extend a helping hand to the facility to help provide for the house.
He added that due to limited resources, they were unable to admit a lot of people.
He said, “We have people coming in from our neighboring countries for treatment, unfortunately we are unable to accommodate everyone.”
He, however, acknowledged that “People who have recovered from their addiction do come back to the facility to talk to housemates as a mean of encouraging them to trust and not give up on themselves.”
The leadership of the Catholic Health Professionals Guild presented items including wheelchair, trolley, drip stand, sanitizers and other hospital consumables to the facility.
Dr. Felix Abeyifah Bowuo, an Obstetrician, Gynecologist and President of the Catholic Health Professionals Guild mentioned that, the decision to visit House of St. Francis to celebrate with them was a divine intervention and they are happy to be with them.
He added that, the Catholic Health Professionals Guild has been running this course for the past five years and every year, they choose a facility that needs health assistance to donate some medical items to them as a way showing love and extending help to the sick.
He touched on the importance of World Day of the Sick to health professionals and entreated all Health workers within the Catholic community to come on board to help put smiles on the faces of the sick to give them hope as a way of showing care to them from the Church.
World Day of the Sick is celebrated all over the world on 11th February every year by Catholics to show support and care to the sick in the society.
By Celestine Edem Gbologah//Newswatchgh.com
