Rebecca Foundation, Multimedia and partners deserve commendation

The Rebecca Foundation, led by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has announced its presence. The inauguration of the Mother and Baby Unit and Paediatric Intensive Care section at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) on Friday, barely five months after the commencement of the project, cannot go unnoticed. 

When the foundation and the Multimedia Group embarked on the journey to raise GH¢10 million for the project, many did not doubt its possibility.

After all, the lead crusader was the First Lady and soon it was evident that she attracted a lot of goodwill.

What must be commended, however, is that the foundation and its partners did not lose focus. They stayed on course, in spite of many competing priorities, and today the KATH is a proud owner of a facility which has 130 cots, 15 incubators, 11 paediatric beds, two infant ventilators, nine birthing beds and a place where ‘’mothers and babies can receive care in dignity and accorded the respect due people who give us life.”

In addition, the facility has been certified as ‘green’ by EDGE, a group affiliated to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank because of its capability to save over 50 per cent of its energy needs, 35 per cent of its water requirements and savings made on construction costs.

Indeed, the First Lady must be applauded and we of the Daily Graphic agree with her that together as a people, we are capable of solving our problems and meeting our challenges.

We cannot gloss over the part played by the Multimedia Group and  Seth Kwame Boateng in this endeavour. Their role clearly indicated that the media can be an instrument for national development.

We also appreciate all the individuals, organisations and institutions that found it worthy to finance the project. Their actions buttress the point that if we all get our act together and put our minds to it, we can certainly achieve the President’s dream of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid.’

We agree in toto with the First Lady that gender, tribe, religion, political affiliation, age and economic status do not matter and that a people united for a common purpose is all that is needed to develop the country and we urge all to see development from that perspective for the good of the country.

One issue of importance, however, is whether a maintenance strategy was factored in the project to ensure that the facility still functions well in the years ahead.

This country has proven to have a poor maintenance culture as many of our health facilities are now in a dilapidated state with many abandoned projects littered all over.

We hope that the situation will be different with the project and as the First Lady indicated, children born in the facility will return 20 years later to see it still functioning very well.

The Rebecca Foundation says it intends to construct a hostel for parents of children who are receiving cancer treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in due course. It is the prayer of the Daily Graphic that that project will receive similar goodwill so that enough funds can be raised for the project.

Once again we say kudos to First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the Multimedia Group and other partners.