A new Out Patient Department (OPD) and an Emergency Unit shall be built for the Saint Mary Theresa’s Hospital at Dodi-Papase in the Kadjebi District of the Volta Region to improve health care delivery.

The current OPD block, which was built to attend to 50 patients daily, now sees to 250 patients.

Dr Kuntutsor Dziwornu, the Medical Officer in-charge of the Hospital, said this at the launch of the 50 Anniversary celebrations of the Hospital in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the congestion in the OPD puts patients and staff at the risk of contracting and transmitting certain diseases.

He said currently services rendered by the hospital includes Paediatric and Child Welfare services, Dental services and Fabrication of Dentures, Obstetric and Gynaecological care, 24-hour emergency care, Ophthalmic care and Anti-retroviral therapy.

Dr Dziwornu said in the medium term, the hospital was looking at augmenting the existing staff accommodation and has met private developers on that concern.

The Most Reverend Gabriel Mante, Bishop of the Jasikan Diocese, said the choice of Dodi-Papase for the hospital to Teteman and Jasikan was strategically made to provide healthcare services to people living along the northern parts of the Volta Region.

He said the construction of the hospital has not only brought healing and relief to the people, but it offered direct and indirect economic opportunities to the indigenes of Dodi-Papase.

He called for a close collaboration with government and other stakeholders in the healthcare sector.

Bishop Mante said the church’s role should be regarded as a partnership that seeks to complement government’s constitutional mandate to make healthcare accessible to all.

He said the collaboration should create a framework for accelerated development of the communities within which the church operates.

Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, Volta Regional Minister, commended the Catholic Health Services and the entire Catholic Church for their support in providing social infrastructure for national development.

He said there was the need to institutionalize a stakeholder platform comprising Government, District Assemblies and the traditional authorities to pave the way for further improvement of facilities, logistics and staffing of the hospital.

He expressed the hope that the hospital would continue to provide quality healthcare services to people in Dodi-Papase and its environs.