A COHORT of nurses have arrived in Ghana to volunteer with the GUBA Foundation.

The charity’s Nursing Volunteer Programme brings together a group of UK-based accomplished and enthusiastic nurses who will be dispatched to various locations in Accra to gain experience, share knowledge, and make a difference to the communities they spend time with.

Nurses will volunteer at Narh-Bita Hospital in Tema and Ga West Municipal Hospital in Amasaman. They will also visit the FOCOS Orthopaedic Hospital, which specialises in complex spine surgeries.

Over the course of two weeks, the group of volunteers will be exposed to a variety of specialties in a host of settings including A&E, community psychiatry, maternity, gynaecology and ulcer units.

On this inaugural tour, the volunteering group will consist of fully qualified nurses who live and work in the UK, all of whom have at least two years postgraduate professional experience spanning a blend of specialties including mental health, paediatrics and general medicine.

This experience was organised to take advantage of Ghana’s “Year of Return”, the government-led drive to encourage members of the African diaspora to return to the shores of Ghana in commemoration of the 400^th anniversary of the commencement of the transatlantic slave trade.

In the spirit of the Year of Return, the GUBA Foundation has increased its focus on work in Ghana; and this volunteering opportunity forms part of these efforts. At its heart, this tour is a charitable venture giving UK nurses an opportunity to give back to Ghana by sharing their acquired skills and providing medical care to the community.

GUBA Foundation are also providing an opportunity for nurses to experience the beautiful sites and tourist attractions within the country such the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Kakum National Park and Elmina Castle. 

Speaking about the volunteering programme, Dentaa Amoateng, founder of GUBA Enterprise and the GUBA Foundation, said: “As part of Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’, this programme is a great idea for our nurses here in the UK to gain working experience in Ghana and to discover potential working opportunities to tap into. We hope this volunteering programme creates an atmosphere where there can be an exchange of knowledge between Ghanaian nurses and UK nurses and can create a platform where some nurses can return to Ghana to make a longer-term working contribution.”

The GUBA Foundation hopes that the nurses volunteering programme in Ghana will be an annual event, with an even larger group planned to tour in 2020.

In a statement the foundation said: “As the beating heart of the GUBA Enterprise family, the GUBA Foundation continues to serve Ghanaian communities in the UK and abroad by hosting this incredible opportunity which will surely be life-affirming and life-changing event for those with the privilege of being involved.

“The GUBA Foundation nursing volunteer programme will not only deepen existing ties between Ghana and the diaspora, but also bring life-changing benefits to many Ghanaians in need – not only in this Year of Return, but hopefully for many years to come.”