Healthcare organisations and universities worldwide are rallying to support a project that seeks to widen the functions of a Maltese health centre in Ghana.

The centre, to be called Hope Xchange Medical Centre, was originally intended to specialise in eye care but will now offer other forms of treatment.

It will take in women with cancer and patients suffering from HIV, malaria and facial malformations. Eye diseases will also be treated in a section to be named after Maltese ophthalmologist Sir Luigi Preziosi.

The hospital will provide both diagnostic and therapeutic services and will accommodate 130 patients. It will also operate an outpatients' centre and house two fully-equipped operating theatres, a pathology and radiology department, several consulting rooms, a vaccination centre, a blood bank, pharmacy, laboratory, mortuary, offices and a chapel.

The hospital is a project by the Maltese missionary organisation called the Institute of World Evangelisation that was established in 1985 by Mario Cappello.

After embarking on its mission to Ghana, the institute also set up the Ghana Mission Foundation to raise funds for this project. Thanks to the generosity of the Maltese and to an anonymous donor, the foundation has collected about €1 million over the past years. However, to realise the project and keep the hospital running, more money needs to be collected.

International organisations from countries such as the UK, Italy, Austria and America are also supporting the project through professional assistance and by providing teaching staff and medical expertise.

The organisations include the Gemelli Catholic University Hospital of Rome and Tilak, which is a medical University in Innsbruk, Austria. US-based organisations include the Centre for Global Health within the Harvard Medical School and the Breast Health Global Initiative.

Anyone who wishes to help can call the foundation on 2124 2792 or deposit money into BOV account number 1120 6046 019 or HSBC account number 0331 4381 9050.