Visit to one of Kumasi Hospitals

In the afternoon, we visited the Suntreso Government Hospital in Kumasi. We wanted to hear how the healthcare works in Ghana and to donate some medical supplies that the hospital desparately needs. We were lucky to be welcomed by the director of the hospital, mr. Agyarko-Poku, who has so many titels that they barely fit on one page (of which he is - of course - very proud, just like he is about the 7 books he wrote and the many countries he has visited).

The hospital is state-funded but as we understood, the hospitals operate on their own and are only getting funds if they can prove some of the patients cannot afford the bill. Not only is the hospital lacking funds, but it was also not built for the number of patients it is currently handling (1000 patients per day). The biggest problems are sexually transmitted and respiratory diseases (malaria, HIV, dengue, covid).

When it comes to doctors, the profession is liked and well paid but there are not enough doctors. Nevertheless, the gender gap is picking up as now up to 57% of medical students are female. Out of the 27 doctors at the hospital, 13 are female. Nurses are still majorly females as the profession is done by 91% females. We also learned that being a doctor is helpful when stopped by the police as this is the only way the police will treat you with respect.

All in all, it was a really interesting conversation and we learned a lot about the healthcare system and mr. Agyarko-Poku. Let‘s put it this way: we all hope we won‘t need it while we are here and appreciate the swiss healthcare more now. 🙃

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