Worcester Organization Gathers Crucial Supplies for Ghana Hospital

(NECN: Katelyn Tivnan) - It's a tight squeeze in Harry Danso's Worcester garage, but it's a problem he's happy to have.

The space is packed with boxes of medical supplies waiting to be shipped to Koforidua Hospital in his hometown of Ghana -- donations his organization has been collecting for months.

“We got together [and] decided, let’s help back home, and decided what can we do to give back,” Danso said.

He belongs to the nonprofit group the New Jaban Association.

The group’s 50 or so members have collected thousands of dollars’ worth of medical supplies, including gloves, syringes, and IVs -- items patients there sometimes have to buy themselves just to be treated.

“Most people don't have the money to buy them; sometimes, you have to buy your own gloves for them to use to treat you or buy your own syringes,” Danso said.

“I think this is a big deal to help the poor people who need this care and hardly have enough money to afford these – now, they're getting them for free,” said Manny Okrah.

Okrah's work in the medical field gave him the idea to start collecting the donations. Unwanted items here are coveted at the Ghana hospital.

“Organizations here have to pay for storage, so if they have something and have no use for it, they will throw it away,” Okrah said.

This is the second year the group has collected donations from local health care groups. Last year, they shipped more than $20,000 in supplies. They said that this year, they have tripled that number.

One reason is a donation from family health center of 45 used computers and an X-ray machine – life-saving equipment hard to come by back home.

“This is going to be a big thing to them and it’s probably a lot more modern than what they have now,” Okrah said. “This is a big deal – it’s going to be a big one.”

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