My Volunteer Experience at the Legon University Hospital

The Legon University Hospital consists of five buildings. There is an out patient clinic, a pediatric ward, two general wards- one for the general public and the other for the educated elite- namely professors and students from the university across the street, a maternity ward, a unit for emergencies and accidents, and a dental unit. The concrete structures, covered in yellow paint that is now peeling from either the daily humidity of the weather, or the from the various ticks of time. Regardless though, the hospital looks a little worn down. Each directory sign is overshadowed by large advertisements from the drink or product that has sponsored the development of the sign. However, despite the conditions of the facilities, nurses in pristinely white and freshly pressed white outfits parade around, reused file folders and ball point pens in hand. Doctors are scattered in various consulting rooms around the hospital, and you can tell where there are cause benches and lines of people crowd around these rooms, all waiting to see the same physician, hoping that today, the doctor will stay long enough to see them.


There’s the parking lot and out-patient clinic of the hospital.


Outpatient Clinic!


Sign in the OPD, leading to all the rooms.


The hospital’s only ambulance. I’m not sure how it works since for all five months I was there, all the landlines of the hospital were down and not working. As I was leaving, Ghana Telecom was purchased by a private British telecommunication company, Vodaphone. I heard about a national ambulance service, but no one could comment on how it worked or if it worked at all. :T


General Ward B.


Emergency and Accident’s Ward. There wasn’t even a sign labeling this building.


Nurses at the Children’s Ward.


Dr. Woode, the pediatrician.


In the Maternity Ward. This is where mothers and newborns are placed after they give birth. There are 4 mothers and newborn pairs to a room. It was empty today, so I took a picture.

It’s a really small hospital, but the nurses and doctors are all really nice. Despite being understaffed and underfunded, the hospital staff is pretty good at providing services to the local population, and about giving treatments even when patients can’t pay. Since it is affiliated with the University of Ghana, it receives funding from the government and from the university, which is enough to keep it running I suppose. While it may look a bit run down, so much happens in this place everyday, it was a really great place to volunteer and help out.