A hospital specializing in digestive diseases has opened at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region.

Pleasant Medical Centre (PMC) was built by a consortium of doctors led by Dr. Robert Nunoo, a colorectal surgery specialist who practices in Cary, North Carolina and is affiliated with the medical facilities Wakemed Cary Hospital and WakeMed Raleigh Campus.

He graduated from the Karolinska Institute, one of the world's foremost medical universities and is Sweden's single largest centre of medical academic research in 1998.

After 30 years of practice in the US and Sweden, Dr. Nunoo decided to establish a hospital in Ghana to treat digestive diseases. In 2014, he put together a team from Ghana and the United States to work towards establishing a medical facility that will provide general medical care but specialize in digestive diseases.

An estimated 117,000 people die each year from cancers of the digestive tract, which include the colon, the gallbladder, and the stomach. Noncancerous digestive diseases cause 74,000 deaths a year, with 36 percent caused by chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.

At the inauguration of the facility at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Nunoo said the facility will have 65 beds in the next two years as it expands. Dr. Nunoo and the individuals he describes as a “consortium of friends and family” are also working to introduce emergency and ICU services.

Currently, PMC will provide general medical services and aims to commence its Digestive Diseases Centre before the end of 2022.

The impressive facility also has an ultra-modern lab, digital X-ray, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy Unit, Obs & Gynae Unit and its own fully equipped ambulance. The facility runs a paperless system; using cutting-edge Hospital Management Software.

It would also add to its portfolio, endoscopy and the treatment of kidney diseases.

The “Pleasant” in the hospital’s name means it must deliver the highest standard of healthcare.

“What’s the pleasant way? The pleasant way is the combination of thoughts and tenents that we go by. And those are the principles that are going to lead us in treating our patients,” Dr. Nunoo said.

He said the hospital will run on the values of honesty and integrity, respect, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

“There are always newer techniques and we’re here to embrace new ways and new techniques to improve ourselves to offer better care to the people of Ashaiman,” he said.

The CEO of the hospital, Dr. Ann-Shirley Andoh said the hospital was the result of her team’s resolve to provide Ghanaians with quality healthcare.

“Our intention to bring high-quality healthcare, which is affordable and protocol-driven to all Ghanaians, finds representation in this beautiful building that we have today,” Dr. Andoh said.

She added that: “The challenges we face in the health sector are not insurmountable. Together with my colleague collaborators, we have decided to leave indelible footprints in the sands of time.”

Programmes Manager at Joy FM, Edem Knight-Tay, was MC for the event. She praised Dr. Nunoo and his team’s decision to establish a facility that provided affordable care to the sick. 

A father’s dream
Dr. Robert Nunoo describes his father, Dr. P.K. Nunoo, as his primary inspiration. Senior Nunoo founded Bukom Ellphkwei Hospital, which stood at the very location the new edifice, Pleasant Medical Centre, now proudly stands.

Sadly, the senior doctor passed away in August this year and was buried a week before the inauguration of his son’s new specialist hospital. During his address, Dr. Robert Nunoo led the audience to observe a minute’s silence for his father.

Having grown up in Ashaiman, Dr. Nunoo remarked “I think that Ashaiman deserves a big hospital considering how fast it’s growing.

With a population of over 300,000, Ashaiman continues to expand with new real estate developments springing up on the outskirts.