The Maternal and Child Health Hospital does not receive any extra funds for their rapidly decaying building (which was built in 1924 by the colonial forces). This branch of the main hospital is forgotten and left to thirst by the government, which has just implemented a system of National Health Care. The consequence is that the patients come in many numbers, and the hospital can no longer receive funds from private payments.
So what they need is funds to build infrastructure, a generator for a reliable electricity system, but more importantly water. They rely on old donated water tanks, currently rusted; they get their water from Ghana’s public water system, which supplies them once per week and often leaves shortages. I was told a gruesome story about doctors who were bringing a child to the world, and ran to the sink with bloody arms and … did not have water. The children whose condition requires them to be washed can often not be done quickly or with the quality water needed, sometimes worsening their sickness! It’s one of those things that we have only heard of on TV or reportages… it is so different and overwhelming to realize it is real.