Gbondapi Health Centre Transformed After Years of Poor Conditions
The Gbondapi Community Health Centre in Pujehun District has reopened following a major rehabilitation, improving healthcare conditions for mothers, newborns and thousands of residents who depend on the facility for medical services.
The Minister of Health, Dr Austin Demby, commissioned the rehabilitated centre on Saturday, October 31, 2026, following upgrades to its maternity and general service buildings.
The centre recorded 379 births in 2025, averaging approximately one birth per day. However, before the rehabilitation, women reportedly gave birth in a facility without running water or electricity, while its roof was affected by leakages.
Established in 1988, the Gbondapi facility provides Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) services. It serves more than 9,000 people across 14 communities and receives referrals from 11 riverine health facilities in two chiefdoms in Pujehun District, as well as three facilities in Bonthe District.
For families travelling by river, the centre serves as an important access point for maternal and newborn healthcare. Pujehun Government Hospital, the nearest referral hospital, is approximately 19.2 kilometres away.
The rehabilitation, supported through the Ministry of Health’s Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Project, included improvements to the labour and delivery rooms, maternity and general service buildings, sanitation facilities and laundry unit.
Solar power has been installed to provide electricity, while air conditioning has been added to key areas, including the labour and postnatal rooms, laboratory, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) room and drug stores. The project also included the installation of new drainage systems and the paving of areas around the facility.
The centre now has four delivery beds, nine postnatal beds, two ultrasound scanners, two oxygen concentrators and two pulse oximeters, alongside a microscope. Three birth-waiting-home spaces have also been provided to accommodate expectant mothers who need to stay close to the facility as they approach delivery.
The improvements are expected to strengthen the centre’s capacity to provide maternal and newborn healthcare, particularly for women from communities where travelling to a referral hospital can be difficult.
With the rehabilitation completed, attention will now turn to maintaining the facility, ensuring that equipment remains functional and providing health workers with the necessary support to deliver quality healthcare.
For Gbondapi and surrounding riverine communities, the upgraded centre represents an important step towards improving access to safer and better-equipped maternal healthcare services.
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