Hajia Sulemana helps fight breast cancer
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala-East in the Upper West Region, Hajia Alijata Sulemana, is waging a relentless campaign to bring joy and comfort to women suffering from breast cancer in the region.
Advertisement
The female MP has so far spent GH¢11,500 to offer medical care for 23 of such women over the past three years, spending GH¢ 500 on each of them to undergo surgery.
“So far, I have spent GH¢11,500 on the 23 women who have undergone surgeries, majority of whom did not even know that they were affected by the ailment. This amount does not include the cost of the health screening exercise to detect the ailment”, she said.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Hajia Sulemana, who is also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the 2016 general election, said she decided to undertake the programme mainly because of the deprivation, cultural and religious beliefs of majority of her people, adding that most of the women could not afford the expenses involved in seeking medical care and that her decision to sponsor such women to stay alive always gave her inspiration and joy.
Awareness campaign
“As an MP, I am spearheading the breast cancer awareness campaign during which I periodically sponsor breast screening exercise for women at the Ahmadiyya Mission Hospital at Kaleo in the region. Until recently, they were transported to Accra,” she said.
The legislator, who is a social worker by profession, said she had been collaborating with the various women groups, churches, the women desks of the various district and municipal assemblies such as the Department of Gender in the Upper West Region to look out for women suffering from such ailment and advised women with the disease not to hesitate to contact her for the needed support.
She said as a first step of determining the disease, women who sensed unusual pains in their breast should not resort to herbal treatment but rather report to the nearest hospital for diagnosis and treatment.
Other projects
Hajia Sulemana mentioned other projects she was undertaking as supporting the education of the girl-child, indicating that under that project, she had sponsored a number of students, including 75 females at the various levels of their education.
She said she had also provided educational materials such as exercise books and uniforms for students and refurbished the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres at the Tumu and Kanton senior high schools.