Wa Seventh-day Adventist Clinic

Wa Seventh-day Adventist Clinic is a medical institution under the Upper West Administrative Unit of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The clinic is located in Wa, the regional capital of the Upper West Region of Ghana.

Initial Plans

In 2011 the North Ghana Mission, under the leadership of Pastor Fred Agyei-Baah, the mission president, envisaged strengthening the presence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana through the establishment of medical institutions at Bolgatanga and Wa.¹ The Mission Executive Committee and the Board of Tamale Adventist Hospital embraced this vision. For the facility to be established in the Wa municipality, the mission believed it would complement government efforts at bringing healthcare to the doorsteps of the people, and therefore designed a three-fold assignment plan to carry out the project.²

A local team made up of members of the Wa Central Church led by Pastor A.S.K. Affari, the district pastor, was to survey the town and recommend a suitable place for the establishment of the clinic. The management team of the Tamale Hospital, led by Dr. John O. Odiase, was to provide the clinical and administrative staff, as well as the basic logistics for the start of the clinic. The mission administration, led by Pastor Fred Agyei-Baah, was to mobilize financial resources and lead in the legal and administrative processes.³

The Founding of the Institution

Wa Seventh-day Adventist Clinic started on May 27, 2014, at Kpaguri, a suburb of the Wa municipality, in a rented house. Pastor Allan Norman Kwadzo Avi, chaplain for Wa UDS SDA Fellowship, opened the clinic on behalf of the North Ghana Mission. It was then registered with the private hospitals and Maternity Homes Board as a private facility.⁴

The first workers of the Wa SDA Clinic included David Hassan Koggoh, a retired deputy chief physician assistant, as the head of the clinic; Benjamin Anankpieng Aseira of Tamale Adventist Hospital as the nurse manager; and Dubik N. Musharafatu as the finance officer; Jacob Anane Adubasum as the medical records officer; Francis Maasuur as the dispensary assistant; Eugenia Poonaasa as a nurse; Zainabu Yendau as a cleaner; and Kwame Sarpong as the security officer.⁵

On June 29, 2015, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) granted accreditation to the facility to operate under its scheme.⁶ The same year the clinic gained membership with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), an agency of the Ministry of Health. By virtue of that membership, the Wa Seventh-day Adventist Clinic became (and still is) the only Christian health facility operating in the Muslim dominated Wa Municipal District. In 2016 and part of 2017, Gideon Adjei-Sekyere played a vital interim leadership role at the clinic, when the appointed managers were not available for service because of some unusual circumstances.⁷

The Era of Consolidation

On October 16, 2017, Hon. John Dranaya, who had served the clinic as an accountant, became the administrator and head of the facility under the supervision of Pastor George Kossi-Ekao Amouzou, director for Tamale Adventist Hospital. New services added during his tenure of office included: inpatient services, antenatal care, family planning services, delivery services, Child Welfare Clinic, laboratory and ultrasound, as well as outreach and community care service delivery. The facility’s bed capacity increased from three to thirty. In addition, he was able to make the clinic a Budget Management Center (BMC) under CHAG for government subventions.⁸

In July 2018 the Northern Ghana Union Mission reorganized the territory of the North Ghana Mission, granting the church in the Upper West region the status of an administrative unit. Therefore, the Tamale Adventist Hospital handed over the oversight responsibility of the clinic to the new administrative unit.⁹ A new board, chaired by Pastor Paul Dapaah Siakwan, was formed to oversee directly the affairs of the clinic. Members of this first board included Emmanuel K. Bawa (field treasurer), Dr. Samuel Marfo, Dr. Yiadom Boakye, Job Asante, Steven Kpekura, and Hon. John Dranaya as secretary.¹⁰

In 2020, the clinic purchased a building at Kpaguri Extension near the Wa Technical School for an amount of three hundred thousand Ghana cedis (approximately US$ 25,000). Aside from the partial financial support given by the Ghana Adventist Health Services (GAHS) and the Tamale Adventist Hospital for the acquisition and renovation works on the new building, Dr. Samuel Marfo, the clinic chaplain and Wa church elder, contributed greatly to this achievement. The clinic moved from the rented house to the new premises on April 12, 2021.¹¹

From 2018 up to 2022, NGOs such as Health Projects International and Labdoo supported the clinic through free health services provided by volunteer clinical professionals from Germany and technical assistance especially in information technology. On April 7, 2022, Samuel Asiamah became the acting facility in-charge, following the transfer of Hon. John Dranaya. As at the end of April 2022, the Wa SDA Clinic had a total staff of 61 out of which were three physician assistants, 37 nurses, six midwives, and 15 other members of staff.¹²

List of the Clinic’s Heads

David Hassan Koggoh (May 2014-December 2015); Hon. John Dranaya (October 2017-April 2022); Samuel Asiamah, Ag. (April 2022 to date).

Sources

Anankpieng, Benjamin Aseira. “Handing Over Report.” N.d. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Anderson, V. G. “A Providential Opening in North Ghana.” ARH, April 23, 1959.

Diboro, Paul Kang-Ewala. “Christianity in Northern Ghana: Missionary Impact.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, January 2022: 80-93.

Dranaya, John. “A Brief Situational Report.” November 21, 2017. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Dranaya, John. “Handing Over Notes.” April 7, 2022. Archives of Wa SDA Clinic, Wa, Ghana.

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. “SDA Church Appeals for Speed in Process of Accreditation of Wa Clinic.” peacefmonline.com. November 25, 2013. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/local/health/201311/181303.php.

Ghana Health Service, Upper West Regional Health Administration. “Inspection Report on SDA Clinic Wa for Registration.” August 12, 2014. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Ghana News Agency. “Upper West Region.” ghanaweb.com. n.d. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/geography/upper_west.php.

National Health Insurance Authority. “Credentialing of Facility.” June 29, 2015. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

North Ghana Mission Executive Committee. “Minutes of North Ghana Mission Executive Committee Meeting.” Tamale, Ghana: North Ghana Mission, September 22, 2011.

Odiase, O. John. John O. Odiase to the Registrar, Private Hospitals and Maternity Homes Board. May 30, 2013. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Owusu-Mensa, Kofi. Ghana Seventh-day Adventism, A History. Vol. 1. Accra: Advent Press, 2005.

Republic of Ghana, Registrar of Companies. “Certificate of Incorporation, SDA Clinic Wa.” January 8, 2014. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Republic of Ghana, Registrar of Companies. “Certificate to Commence Business, SDA Clinic Wa.” January 9, 2014. Archives of SDA Hospital Tamale, Ghana.

Rieseberg, Henry E. “Soul-Winning in Northern Ghana,” Northern Light, August 1964.

Seventh-day Adventist Hospital Tamale Board. “Minutes of Seventh-day Adventist Hospital Tamale Board Meeting.” Tamale, Ghana: SDA Hospital Tamale, May 5, 2019.

Siakwan, Paul Dapaah. “Message from Wa SDA Church Pastor.” wasdachurch.wordpress.com. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://wasdachurch.wordpress.com/about-us/.

Notes

1. North Ghana Mission of Seventh-day Adventists, “Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting” (Tamale, Ghana: September 22, 2011), 2.↩

2. Pastor Philemon Nso Aboungo, executive secretary of North Ghana Mission, in an interview with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation at Wa on November 23, 2013, during the celebration of the 125^th anniversary of SDA Church in Ghana.↩

3. George Kossi-Ekao Amouzou, personal knowledge from working as a member and then as the head of the Management Team of SDA Hospital Tamale from 2014-2022.↩

4. Benjamin AseiraAnankpieng, “Handing Over Report,” (Wa, Ghana: SDA Clinic, n.d.), 2.↩

5. Benjamin AseiraAnankpieng, interview by author, Tamale, Ghana, April 10, 2023.↩

6. National Health Insurance Authority, “Credentialing of Facility” (Accra, June 29, 2015), l.↩

7. John Dranaya, interview by author, Tamale, Ghana, April 11, 2023.↩

8. George Kossi-Ekao Amouzou, personal knowledge from working as the SDA Hospital Tamale director and the Wa Clinic direct supervisor from 2017 to 2018.↩

9. Seventh-day Adventist Hospital Tamale Board, “Minutes of Seventh-day Adventist Hospital Tamale Board Meeting” (Tamale, Ghana: SDA Hospital Tamale, May 5, 2019), 3.↩

10. John Dranaya, “Handing Over Notes” (Wa, Ghana: SDA Clinic, April 7, 2022), 7.↩

11. Ibid., 1-9.↩

12. Ibid., 3.↩