Asamang SDA Hospital

The Asamang Seventh-day Adventist Hospital is located in Agona, Asamang, Ghana. It was established in 1984. Today, it operates under the Northern Ghana Union Conference and provides 108 patient beds.¹

Early Beginnings

The Adventist work started in the Kwahu area at Atibie in 1954 when Adventist missionaries led by Opanyin F. K. Adusei from Kumasi in the Ashanti region held a two-week evangelistic campaign at the Atibie Palace outer court and started a church with 30 members. That same year, Adventist missionaries opened a hospital in Atibie, and Dr. John Ashford Hyde was brought from Nigeria to work as a medical doctor in this Adventist hospital.² The hospital was handed over to the government in 1974.³

It has always been the aspiration and conviction of the Adventist Church that, through quality health service delivery, many people could be healed and won to Christ. Therefore, the Adventist Church leaders and members began searching for a suitable place for a new Adventist hospital in that region. Some of the active members in the search and planning were the late Pastor Dwomoh from Bepoa in Ashanti Region, Elder D. Y. Agyapong, Pastor E. M. Ampatey, and Pastor Ampatey. The church leaders in Ghana approved and supported the plans to start the hospital.

Soon, the tribal chiefs of Asamang, Konya, and Brehoma were approached about acquiring the land for the hospital. That was welcome news to them, so the chiefs freely gave the Adventist Church about thirty-five acres of land to start the hospital. In appreciation of this initiative of the Adventist Church, Nana Akwasi Amoakohene, a business magnate and philanthropist, offered his late mother’s, Madam Abena Kwabena, funeral donations to the Seventh-day Adventist Conference as “seed money” to kick-start the hospital project.

The motto for the hospital was chosen: “Labor Omnia Vin Cit”” from Latin, meaning “Perseverance overcomes everything.” The hospital committee worked closely with the leaders and lay members of Church Conference in Kumasi – Kwadaso, and before long. progress became visible. The members of the hospital committee included: Pastor M. E. Ampatey, Elder F. Kwaku Adusei, Elder Oduro Asenso, Elder Johnson Kwarteng, Elder Daniel Yaw Agyapong, Elder Agya Kwaku Mensah, Elder Emmanuel Amoako Mensah, and Elder David Asiemire Asante.⁴ All the Adventist Churches within the district-- Effiduase, Asokore, Kumawu, Seniagya, Senchi, and Ahensan, to mention but a few--developed a team that gave a helping hand during those initial stages. For example, he older members of the church tended a vegetable garden in support of nurses and paramedics, who arrived at the facility when the hospital started operating.⁵

Arrival of Doctors and Nurses

Dr. Owusu Achiaw, from the Eastern Region, was the first medical doctor to arrive. Mrs. Rose Osei Bonsu was the first nurse to start work there. She was followed by Mrs. Grace Osei Assibey from Bekwai. The following local people–Mr. Bediako Asante Opoku, Nana Oppong Panin Agyekum, Nana Akwasi Amoakohene, and Madam Mary Abena Boatemaa–provided initial accommodations for the doctor and nurses in their homes.⁶

The First Hospital Bungalow

Volunteers were recruited from the Voluntary Work Camp Association of Ghana to provide free labor to build the first hospital bungalow in the summer of 1985. These volunteers were recruited from France, the United States, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Ghana. Elder David Asiemire Asante was the national general secretary of this Non-Governmental Voluntary Organization (NGO). Therefore, he quickly recommended this NGO to Mr. Offeh Gyimah, who became the hospital’s first administrator. These two leaders drove to Accra to make the necessary arrangements, and about forty-five volunteers were recruited to put up this bungalow in three weeks. Elder D. A. Asante, together with the Camp Association, took care of the feeding of these volunteers. The hospital administration, under the auspices of the local Seventh-day Adventist conference, provided all the essential building materials for this project.⁷

Community Participation

A large number of volunteers came from the Asamang, Konya, and Brehoma communities to mold blocks, excavate foundation trenches, do weeding, and much more. A local traditional leader, Nana Aborah Kwatuamoah, Kontihene, freely supplied pineapple and sugar cane from his farm for volunteers and conference workers. Nana Baama Owusu Sekyere--Asamanhene Brehoma and Konya chiefs and Nana Oduro Nimapau, Bekwai Esumegyamanhene--provided materials and financial support to building the hospital.

Inauguration of the Hospital

Nana Baama Owusu Sekyere had the rare occasion to inaugurate the hospital on November 14, 1984. A large durbar or formal meeting was organized, and a lot of people who differed widely in rank and occupation, including chiefs, royals, and the “plebeians,” came in large numbers to witness history in the making because, at long last, a full-fledged hospital had been established in this obscure town of Asamang, Konya, and Brehoma.

Since the inception of this hospital in 1984, Asamang could be easily located on the map of Ghana. Patients with all sorts of ailments flock to the hospital to consult our able and competent doctors and their paramedics.

From ten beds capacity at inception, the hospital now has 108 beds, and offers the following services/departments: Out Patient Department (OPD); Admissions; Surgical; Pharmacy; Emergency; Laboratory; Eye Care; Reproductive and Child Health; Physiotherapy; X-ray; Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT); and Oral (Dental) Care.

The following medical doctors have had the opportunity to work at the hospital since its inception in 1984: Dr. Owusu Achiaw (First Medical Officer), 1984-1986; Dr. Nyatepe-Coo, 1987-1988; Dr. Joseph Oduro, 1988-1996; Dr. Mohammed R. Walid, 1996-2002; Dr. Aduse-Poku, 1996-1998; Dr. Frank Yirenkyi, 1998-2000; Dr. Joseph Kwaku Enos, 2000-2004; Dr. Seth Wanye, 2003-2004; Dr. Opoku Boadi, 2006-2009; Dr. Kodwo Sarfo Agyeman, 2009 to date; Dr. Kwadwo Agyenim-Boateng Gyebi, 2009 to date; Dr. Kizito Kakra Vormawor, 2011 to date; Dr. Peter Adjei Frimpong, 2012 to date; Dr. Beatrice Wiafe Addai, 2012 to date.

Apart from these, many medical assistants and visiting doctors have also contributed immensely in diverse ways to the development of this hospital.⁸

Asamang Seventh-day Adventist Hospital continues to strive for excellence in service of the local communities and Ghana at large.

Sources

“30^th Anniversary of Asamang SDA Hospital,” brochure. In the author’s private collection.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. “Asamang Seventh-day Adventist Hospital,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2024), https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=13523.↩

2. Collins Keyi Konadu, “Eastern View Ghana Conference,” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, January 29, 2020, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AG7Q&highlight=Kwahu|Atibie|.↩

3. “Kwahu Government Hospital,” Elective Ghana, www.electiveghana.org.↩

4. Quoted from the “30^th Anniversary of Asamang SDA Hospital” brochure, in the author’s private collection.↩

5. Pr. Dr. M. A. Bediako, interviewed by the author.↩

6. Pr. W. G. Mensah, interviewed by the author.↩

7. Nana Kwakwa, Asamanhene Representative, interviewed by the author.↩

8. Quoted from the “30^th Anniversary of Asamang SDA Hospital” brochure, in the author’s private collection.↩