“We have achieved a lot in Kumasi and the surrounding area”
In conversation with Gideon
The Gye Nyame Mobile Clinic is part of the St. Patrick’s Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. A team consisting of 2 drivers, a psychiatric specialist, a general medical assistant and a nurse travels three times a week to remote villages to provide medical care for the people there. Gideon, who studied for five years to become a “psychiatric nurse”, talks about the Mobile Clinic during a project visit.
What does a normal week at the Mobile Clinic look like?
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we are here on site in the psychiatric ward and look after patients. We are an outpatient department. If someone stays longer, we refer them to the hospital. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and sometimes on Fridays we have our “Outreach Program” and we go to the villages.
How many people do you reach with the Mobile Clinic?
We are regularly in an orphanage in Kumasi and care for about 800 orphans there. Then we go to Nyamebekyere at least twice a month. There there are 60-65 other patients besides our 5 psychiatric patients. Altogether there are about 700 people living there. We go to the other villages at least once a month. These are Ntobroso with about 1200 inhabitants, Abofour and Akumadan with about 1500 inhabitants each and Amoqwi with over 1000 inhabitants. In total we have over 250 patients in the villages every month. In Kumasi we also have 74 patients.
When you go to the villages, what does a normal working day look like?
We leave at 9 am with both cars. The cars are equipped so that together they form a complete clinic.
Because of very bad road conditions we usually need a very long time.
We are never back in Kumasi before 5 p.m.
What are the biggest problems?
We are a very small team with 5 people and actually it would be necessary that we could go to the villages much more often to visit our patients. For many people in the villages there is no possibility to come to us and therefore we are the only medical care they get. A bigger team, so that we can achieve more, would be nice.
Also, we do not have our own department in the hospital at the moment due to reconstruction, but even with our small team we have achieved a lot in Kumasi and the surrounding area. Also concerning education. When we started, nobody in the villages had considered health insurance. But in Ghana there is a national health insurance which guarantees free medical care. Without health insurance, people have to pay for every treatment themselves. In the meantime, many people in the area are insured here and can now afford to see a doctor.
