The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has opened its 7th National Development and Social Services (DSS) Consultation at the Presbyterian Women's Centre at Abokobi, bringing together about 90 church leaders, implementers and partners from its health, agriculture and relief services for a gathering running from October 13 to 16.
The meeting is on the theme, "Celebrating Our Heritage: Building on the Foundation Already Laid: Fostering Health, Harvest, and Human Dignity."
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the church, Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye, presided over the opening and said the church began providing health services in 1885 at Aburi, with an eight-bed facility, which has now been replaced by the Presbyterian Hospital, Kom.
Later the Agogo hospital, opened in 1931, and it is the oldest church hospital in Ghana.
Today the church runs 61 facilities across 13 regions, employing more than 4,300 people and providing about 1,600 beds.
The National Director of Development and Social Services of the Church, Mrs. R. Teiko Sabah, said the church's social work reaches back to 1828 and that its members have moved "from being beneficiaries of mission to doing the missions ourselves."
She described the department as "a bridge" between the church's spiritual heritage and the needs of a modern world marked by inequality, climate change and moral confusion.
Mrs. Sabah reported that more than 6,000 children have been screened through the VISIO project and more than 5,000 through community-based rehabilitation programmes in Garu and Sandema.
Speaking on behalf of Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Dr. Mavis Sakyi, in charge of the Technical Coordination Directorate of the Ministry of Health invited the church to help complete and manage selected Agenda 111 hospital sites, and said the Ministry would work with church leaders on keeping health workers in rural stations.
The Moderator welcomed those commitments but made three urgent appeals asking the government to revive a 60-bed Accident and Emergency Centre at the Presbyterian Hospital at Dormaa-Ahenkro, which was started in September 2020 and has since stopped without explanation.
He asked for support to expand the Presbyterian Psychiatric Hospital in Bolgatanga, which he said is struggling to keep up with demand.
