Archbishop Porter Girls’ past students absorb new mothers medical bills

The Archbishop Porter Past Students Association (APPSA), Accra Chapter, marked this year’s breast cancer awareness month by donating various items to new mothers and staff at the Maternity Block of Lekma Hospital in Accra.

Last Saturday, the group visited each ward to distribute items, including packs of baby diapers, wipes, assorted detergents and bottles of mineral water.

In addition, the group, consisting of about 20 members, contributed GH¢17,615.30 to cover the medical bills of seven mothers, including a 16-year-old girl who had been detained due to the inability of her relatives to pay after giving birth.

The APPSA Accra Chapter also took the opportunity to educate new mothers on breast cancer and encouraged them to pursue early screening for timely detection and diagnosis.

Commemoration

The president of the association, Appsan Patience Otoo, emphasised that the initiative was aimed to honour the 2024 Pink October Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to motivate women to seek early screening for better detection.

“Every year, we go round doing breast cancer awareness in selected institutions and so this year, APPSA Accra Chapter decided that we will go to a hospital for a donation and so, Lekma is blessed to be identified to receive us today,” she said.

“We are here with a gift of cash to discharge as many new mothers as we can; those who are not able to meet the needs of paying their bills and also present these items to them,” she added.

Touching lives

The General Secretary, Appsan Patience Famiye, stated that the initiative was meant to ease the financial strain on women who had recently given birth but were unable to pay their medical bills.

“We are in October and Pink October. We try to do self-test and free screening for various groups and institutions, but this time round, we decided to take it to the next level by visiting these women, some of whom have been here for a while and are not able to pay their bills.”

“Last year, we went to the University of Ghana campus where we screened the students and we actually had one student who had a lump in her breast and we supported her to undergo the surgery to remove it,” she added.

Ms Famiye explained that the group intended to, “impact lives in the society”, adding that the next beneficiary institutions were yet to be identified.

Appreciation

One of the new mothers who gave her name as Betty expressed gratitude to the group on behalf of her colleagues and prayed for strength and peace for the APPSA Accra Chapter.

“We are truly grateful for your support. We never expected you to come to our aid today. What you’ve done means so much to us, and we pray for God’s blessings and peace for each of you,” she said.