In district hospitals in the Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana, this is an all too common reply to the question – “Do you have the ability to deliver oxygen to patients?” Hospitals simply do not have the resources to keep a regular supply of oxygen and the closest refilling station is 10 hours away in some cases.

The oxygen concentrator provides facilities with the ability to administer oxygen simply with access to electricity. This item was the most needed and often requested piece of equipment amongst GMH beneficiary hospitals in 2016. We purchase this life-saving device from International Aid from the US and first send it to our local storehouse along with all other purchased and donated equipment. We sort and distribute equipment based on hospital size and our hospital needs assessments. We then ship everything to Tema port in Ghana. Ghana Health Service receives the equipment, clears it all through customs and ships it to our beneficiary hospitals in the north — where it is often the only oxygen device that an entire facility serving up to 100,000 people has access to.