The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (MSHR) working in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom, Afram Plains in Ghana’s Eastern Region, are ministering to the sick and pregnant women at the Vicariate-owned Holy Rosary Health Centre at Amankwakrom, aside from their other ministries.
Holy Rosary Health Centre at Amankwakrom, under the administration of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary (MSHR), and proprietorship of the Most Rev. John Alphonse Asiedu, SVD, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom, has continued to provide and sustain health care services to the poor, neglected and marginalized community of Amankwakrom and environs.
Amankwakrom, being one of the major settlements within Donkorkrom District, came into existence with the flood caused by the opening of the Akossombo Dam in 1963, which led to the displacement of so many communities, some of which came to settle at Amankwakrom, under six different Chieftaincies. It was as a result of these new inhabitants that the Volta Lake Authority took the initiative to build a clinic to cater for their health needs in the year 2000.
Amankwakrom, like the rest of the Afram Plains, suffers very high poverty rates. Many patients die at home because they cannot afford specialists’ hospitals for treatment. Some pregnant women prefer giving birth at home for fear of medical bills, and most of them often rush to the health centre on motorbikes, the major transport means, when there are complications. Due to the poor road network, some prefer not to take the risk of venturing on the bad roads lest they lose their babies, or worse still, their lives.
Inhabitants also suffer from water shortage, with only two boreholes to serve the needs of a big community as Amankwakrom. There is no market in Amankwakrom, and inhabitants have to go all the way to Donkorkrom to buy foodstuffs and other needs. There is also the lack of toilet facilities, and people resort to making use of nearby bushes, hence polluting the environment.
The Holy Rosary Sisters, driven by the zeal for mission in the spirit of their Founder, and moved by the need to be close to the people they serve, had left the comfort of their Convent at Donkorkrom to reside in the old nurses’ quarters at Holy Rosary Health Centre, Amankwakrom, from where they reach out to the patients and see to the day-to-day running of the facility. For them, human life is more important than money or anything. Sometimes, they have had to take the pains of transporting patients whose needs they were not able to meet, to the Presbyterian Hospital at Donkorkrom, using their means, just because the patients chose to come to them amidst the bad roads and the distance, just because of their quality services.
Apart from their routine health care delivery, the Sisters, faced with the challenge of addressing some of the numerous needs of the poor masses at Amankwakrom and environs, have resorted to sourcing for funds through project writing, and this has contributed so much to the growth of the health facility.
From a humble beginning of a two-block facility managed by the Ghana Health Service, Holy Rosary Health Centre, which came under the management of the Holy Rosary Sisters on April 1, 2016, has seen tremendous growth and expansion. The two pioneering MSHR who heeded the cry of the poor at Amankwakrom were Sr. Rose Farren, a medical doctor of Canadian origin, now a returned missionary and Sr. Nkechi Oraebosi Caroline, a staff mid-wife, now Physician Assistant, Facility in-charge and present Regional Leader of the MSHR in Ghana, later joined by Sr. Cecilia Dike, a nurse mid-wife.
In 2020, the construction of a new Out-Patient Department (OPD) block, complete with a pharmacy, laboratory, scan room, injection room, and a male ward, represented a remarkable development. Three years later, the unveiling of an ultra-modern Maternity Block, with a midwife station, Antenatal Ward, Delivery Room, Post Natal ward, Waiting Room, Reproductive Child Healthcare Unit, Scan Room, and administrative offices, along with contemporary restroom facilities, reinforces the commitment to enhanced healthcare services.
All the above developments were possible thanks to the indefatigable efforts of the Sisters, in collaboration with the MSHR Development Office in Ireland and the generosity of funding agencies like NLW Germany, who provided the funds for the renovation and equipping of the old Clinic building, the equipment for the OPD funded by Manus Unidas, Spain, and also co-funded an Ambulance for the Health Centre, with MIVA, not leaving out Misean Cara, Ireland, who singlehandedly funded the Maternity block.
Still through the help of the MSHR, and thanks to the visit of Mr. Finbar O’Brian, a Misean Cara representative, to the facility and Sr. Ngozi Okoli, the then MSHR Development Officer, the compound was fenced to prevent goats and other stray animals from trooping in at will, and there is an ongoing Canteen project, which will cater for the needs of the staff and patients, who would no longer need to go so far to buy food.
The Sisters not only remain at the Centre, but also periodically carry out sensitization within other communities and Schools within Amankwakrom on health and other related issues.
They also organize free health screening for the people, one of which happened in October 2024 at Amankwakrom and Donkorkrom, respectively. It included taking of Vital Signs, checking of Sugar, Laboratory test, eye and tooth screening. A total of 151 persons were screened at Amankwakrom (67 males and 84 females), and 101 at Donkorkrom (42 males and 59 females).
The Health Centre has evolved from 2 staff in 2016 to 42 presently, including three midwives. Average weekly OPD attendance stands at 105, while average weekly antenatal, labour and post-natal cases are at 25.
The Bishop of Donkorkrom has continued to be a great encouragement and support to the mission of the Sisters at Amankwakrom. Speaking during the November 4, 2023, commissioning ceremony of the new Maternity block, he greatly affirmed and appreciated the MSHR Ghana Region for their “team spirit, hard work, and commitment that continues to make quality health care delivery accessible and affordable for the people of Amankwakrom and its environs”.
Rev. Fr. Philip Gyapong, Parish Priest of St. Anthony Parish, Amankwakrom, offers spiritual assistance to the Sisters and the Health Centre.
The local chiefs are not left out. Even though they lack the means to support the Sisters financially, they express joy and satisfaction at what their community is becoming, thanks to the Missionary endeavors.
“Though poor, the chiefs are always by us. Anything we are doing, they will tell us to call them. They rally their people to come for communal labour when called upon,” admitted Sr. Nkechi.
The Health Insurance Scheme, according to the Facility in-charge, has also been very helpful, and above all. “The Health Centre survives largely through Divine Providence; the goodwill from people,” Sr. Nkechi testified, sharing her belief that “Just do the mission, and the God of the Mission will sustain it”.
“If we keep to the faith with which we started in Amankwa, we shall never lack,” Sr. Farren had buttressed.
By Sr. Sylvie Lum Cho, MSHR (Sister Communicator)
