Evergreen Grace Love Foundation Visits KATH, Settles Hospital Bills of 10 Mothers and Calls for Expanded Maternal Care Under NHIS
The Evergreen Grace Love Foundation has extended humanitarian support to nursing mothers at the Mother and Baby Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, where it settled the hospital bills of ten mothers and provided essential items for their newborn babies.
The New Year outreach saw the Foundation paying outstanding medical bills for the beneficiaries, purchasing baby food for newly born babies, and providing financial assistance to mothers whose doctors had prescribed medicines to be bought from pharmacies outside the hospital. The intervention brought immense relief to the mothers, many of whom had been under emotional and financial stress following delivery.
Speaking to the media during the visit, the Chairman of the Evergreen Grace Love Foundation, Rev. Nsiah Afriyie, appealed to the government to extend the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to comprehensively cover maternal care, particularly during delivery and the immediate postnatal period. He explained that a significant number of women who give birth in hospitals struggle to settle their medical bills, a situation that often leaves them distressed and stranded after delivery.
Rev. Afriyie described the situation as worrying and unacceptable, stressing that extending NHIS coverage to fully include maternal care would go a long way in reducing the hardship mothers endure at health facilities across the country. According to him, such a policy would help end the stress, suffering, and detention some mothers face due to their inability to pay medical bills after childbirth.
The Foundation’s chairman also expressed concern about irresponsible fatherhood, condemning the practice where some men impregnate women and abandon them during pregnancy or childbirth. He cautioned men to take responsibility for their actions and urged those not ready for fatherhood to act responsibly. Rev. Afriyie emphasized that women should not be left alone to endure the challenges of labour, delivery, and postnatal care, calling on men to support their partners fully.
Rev. Afriyie further used the occasion to call on government, stakeholders, and traditional leaders to intensify efforts to clamp down on illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey. He noted that environmental pollution resulting from galamsey has serious health implications for pregnant women and newborn babies, including congenital and other health-related complications. He urged authorities to take firm and pragmatic decisions to protect water bodies and safeguard the health of unborn and newly born children.
On her part, the President of the Evergreen Grace Love Foundation, Nana Afia Gyaamang Pemsan II, Queen Mother of Abesewa in the Bekwai Municipality, said supporting the less privileged remains one of the topmost priorities of the Foundation. She explained that the organisation is committed to assisting vulnerable groups in society, including prisoners, orphanages, and disadvantaged individuals.
She also appealed to stakeholders, benevolent individuals, and corporate bodies to support the Foundation in order to enable it to expand its humanitarian activities and reach more needy people across the country. Nana Afia Gyaamang Pemsan II joined the call on government to extend NHIS coverage to include maternal operations and other critical medical procedures to ease the burden on mothers.
Some of the beneficiary mothers who received support from the Evergreen Grace Love Foundation expressed heartfelt gratitude to the organisation, describing the intervention as timely and life-changing. They commended the Foundation for its compassion and generosity, and called on other organisations and individuals to support similar initiatives aimed at improving maternal and child healthcare in Ghana.
