The Mankessim Reproductive and Child Health Centre and Fistula Hospital Project

As an expression of the Church’s pastoral solicitude and service to humanity, especially to the underprivileged, poor and outcast on account of disease and ill-health, Cardinal Turkson led the Archdiocese of Cape Coast to develop:

• A Reproductive and Child Health Center and
• A Fistula Hospital

at Mankessim to provide maternal and child healthcare for women and children, and to repair  fistulae. The Fistula Hospital at Mankessim is the second such facility in the whole of Africa. The first is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where about 200,000 cases exist.

Both the Fistula hospital and the Reproductive and Child Health Centre have been completed and operational. There is, to date, a resident doctor and a team of six nurses on site, housed in three-storey block of apartments.

There are plans to develop two more of such apartments to house a total of twenty-seven nurses, and three bungalows for resident and visiting doctors and surgeons.

A  Pediatric unit is still under construction. When fully completed, the facility will provide maternal and child health care services for pregnant women and children, provide obstetrical fistulae repair and treatment services for women afflicted with the condition and also serve as a Training Centre for doctors who wish to work in the field of fistulae repairs and treatment in Ghana and the West African Sub-region.

The Reproductive and Maternal Health Care Centre consists of an Administration Unit, an Out-patient Department, a Laboratory, a Pharmacy, two consultation rooms, a pre-natal section, two operating theatres, a recovery ward, a nurses’ station, a thirty-bed ward and sanitary areas. Fifteen nurses offer various types of services in these areas (six nurses are housed on site and the rest are accommodated in town).

The Pediatric Unit is still under construction and not yet ready for use.

A resident doctor is supported by the weekly visits of  a surgical specialist (obs-gyne specialist).

The facility is registered as Christian health Association of Ghana (CHAG) facility, and is recognized by the Ministry of Health of the Government of Ghana.

The Fistula Repair Hospital also consists  of an Out-Patient Section, a Pharmacy, a Documentation centre, a Laboratory, two operating Theatres, a nurses’ station,  a fifty-bed ward and a rehabilitation centre (for recovering patients with an occupational centre).

Fistula surgeons from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, make scheduled visits to operate on patients.