The Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has inaugurated a multi-million-dollar KGL Eve Medical Centre in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
The fully furnished centre, located on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is expected to provide comprehensive wellness and mental health services to women.
The first phase of the facility has consulting rooms for psychiatric services, therapy and counselling units, in-patient wards, diagnostic and pharmacy units, rehabilitation spaces, and administrative and staff facilities.
A brainchild of the Eve Medical Foundation under the leadership of its Co-Founder, Lady Julia Osei Tutu, wife of the Asantehene, the centre was fully funded by the KGL Foundation.
Additionally, the foundation has pledged to fund the completion of the second and third phases of the centre by 2027.
It will provide services to people across nine regions, including Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Northern, North-East, Upper East, Upper West and Savannah.
Practical response
Inaugurating the centre yesterday, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said the facility was a practical response to the real and growing demand for integrated medical and mental health services in the country.
She said the global and national healthcare landscapes were changing, influenced by pandemics, digital medicine, and ethical dilemmas, coupled with expanding populations, and stated that the government would continue to prioritise healthcare within Ghana’s agenda.
She stressed that “we are strengthening primary health care, expanding the National Health Insurance Scheme coverage, modernising facilities, increasing training and access to mental health and wellness services”.
The Vice-President, however, stated that the government alone could not meet every healthcare need of Ghana’s growing population, stressing that “the nation relies on partnerships with private sector actors, foundations and institutions that share our vision for a stronger, healthier Ghana”.
Challenges
The Vice-President said facing medical and mental health challenges among children, mothers, working and retired adults required accessible, stigma-free services supported by strong partnerships.
The centre, she said, would contribute to these efforts and expand care options in the region through the purpose-built mental and wellness facility with a focus on women within its catchment areas.
“We expect that the centre would contribute to research and training through meaningful partnership and collaboration with the KNUST.
This centre is positioned to reduce delays and ease pressure on existing health facilities,” she stated.
While commending all who contributed towards the execution of the project, she said the centre would complement the national health policy and universal health coverage objectives, and strengthen health delivery capacity in the region, among others.
Unacceptable
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KGL Foundation, Elliot Dadey, said the centre existed now because it was unacceptable to envisage a future where 10 per cent of Ghanaians would suffer silently while only two per cent received care.
“This project represents a significant shift in our history; a Ghana where mental health is not a privilege of wealth or geography, but a right protected with the same seriousness as any other form of health care,” he said.
Privilege
The Chairman of KGL Group of Companies, Alex Apau Dadey, said for far too long, access to professional mental health care had been a privilege limited by geographical location, compelling patients to travel hundreds of kilometres to the south in search of care.
He said depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, epilepsy-related disorders, and severe mental illness did not discriminate, adding that “they affect the young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated”.
Yet, for decades, he said, access to mental health care remained shrouded in silence, stigma and severe underinvestment, emphasising that mental health was not a luxury issue but a public health necessity.
“The centre has been designed as a modern, dignified and professional environment focused on the care of people living with mental health conditions. This is not an institution of confinement, but a centre of healing, hope, and human dignity,” he stressed.
New chapter
For her part, Lady Julia said the inauguration of the centre was more than the opening of a facility as it also marked the beginning of a new chapter in compassionate health care, advocacy for mental wellness and dignified support for women and children, among others.
She said many women suffered silently from various forms of mental illness, including anxiety, postpartum challenges, childhood behavioural issues, stress-related complications and emotional trauma.
She indicated that it was time to take off the wraps and to address the needs of the hundreds and thousands of people suffering silently, indicating that the vision of the centre was built on accessibility, dignity and holistic care for patients.
Lady Julia paid glowing tribute to Mr Dadey and the leadership of the KGL Foundation for fully funding the entire construction of the centre, stressing that it would bridge the gap between academia and health care, and give the wider community access to early diagnosis, treatment and preventive care.
The CEO of the Mental Health Authority, Dr Eugene Kobla Dordoye, expressed worry that the gap between those who needed mental health care and those who received actual care was very wide.
