Churches must reach out to disaster victims – Veep

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has urged churches to reach out to the injured persons and families of the victims of the June 3, floods and fire disaster in parts of Accra.

He said many of the people affected by the disaster were traumatised and were having nightmares, therefore, the Church had to help them towards readjusting to normalcy.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur was speaking at the Dedication of a Mother’s Bay, built by the Tema Diocese of the Methodist Church, for the Tema General Hospital.

The 18-bed facility, which cost GHC145,692, is a separate structure attached to the children’s ward to give temporary accommodation for mothers awaiting the discharge of their babies from the hospital.

Additionally, the Rotary Club of Tema provided GHC30,000 for the furnishing of the structure.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur appealed for material support in terms of food, clothing, shelter, and blood to treat the injured persons who were still in hospital.

“We need to visit the injured and remember them in their prayer,” he said.

He said the nation must identify the errors it had made in terms of sanitation, which were compounded by natural forces to wreak havoc in Accra and other communities.

He charged Christians to reach out to the poor and the needy in their community since according to him, “Assisting the needy means we are leading to God who would repay us in multiple folds.”

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also commended the Tema Diocese of the Methodist Church for their support to the hospital.

He said the Mother’s Bay would help reduce child mobility, morbidity and mortality.

He stressed the need for regular maintenance of the facility by the Church as well as the setup of a fund to assist mothers who were unable to pay for using the facility.

The Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel K Asante, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, said: “Christianity as practical faith is our commitment to God and concern for fellow human being especially those in need.”

He said it was impossible for one to claim to know or love the Lord and yet did not bother to take care of the brothers and sisters around him.

He said the Church had a responsibility to provide for the poor and vulnerable people in the society where they operated.

Most Rev. Prof Asante said concern for the poor and needy was fundamental to the Christian life and not an addendum.

He said the Church over the years had partnered with the state to provide the social needs of the people in terms of education, health and agriculture.

Dr Kwabena Opoku Edusei, the Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital, appealed to the Government to complete all the abandoned projects, including the central theatre and maternity block.

He also urged the government to construct a new 500-bed hospital at the place, which he said, had been on the drawing board for a long time.

He said currently the clientele base of the hospital was more than 800,000 and facility was situated on the centre of three major highways, consequently, accidents cases brought to the hospital are high.

Nii NiKoi Amasa, President of the Rotary Club of Tema, said the Club had had a long relationship with the hospital, dating back to 1992.

He said the Club had also adopted the hospital’s blood bank and provided netting for the various wards.

He said the furnishing of the Mother’s Bay by the Club was, therefore, just a continuation of their past relationship.

Earlier, Vice President Amissah-Arthur visited the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park to lend his support to the notational blood donation exercise taking place there.

He urged Ghanaians to go out in their numbers and donate blood to save lives and to treat the injured persons of the recent disaster.

He said a result of the flood and fire disaster, most of the blood at the National Blood Bank had been used to treat the injured people so the public must donate more blood to replace them.

The June 3 twin disaster officially claimed 152 lives in Accra.