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‘A listening ear, healing balm for mental patients’
The Founder and President of Trust Jesus Mental Health Foundation (TJMHF) has called on Ghanaians to give a listening ear to people suffering from mental illness.
She indicated that active listening is a powerful clinical tool that “reduces stress, offers greater trust and improvement in their health conditions.”
Madam Mary Wormenor made this call when members of the TJMHF presented some food items to patients at the Pantang Hospital as part of the Foundation’s efforts to show love to patients of mental health institutions in Ghana.
Madam Wormenor observed that listening done well could be more healing than any clinical technique, and that “people who feel heard are 40 per cent likely to seek professional help later on because they know their struggles are valid.”
The Patron of TJMHF, Dr Mrs Adelaide Ferguson, asked government to reconsider the cost of treatment of mental illness in Ghana since the amounts clients paid was on the high side, and that “may push majority of mentally challenged people to the streets.”
Dr Mrs Ferguson, who is also the Women’s Ministry Director of the Meridian Ghana Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, said, “The big surprise was to know that they have to purchase their own drugs which are very expensive, yet such persons may not have capacity to pay.”
She, therefore, advocated for free mental health treatment as a measure of ensuring a smooth mental health delivery in Ghana.
TJMHF visits mental homes every year to assist in mental health delivery.
The visit to Pantang was the seventh outreach of the foundation since its inception in 2019.
The project, dubbed “Smile on a person with Mental illness,” takes place every December, leading the foundation to visit all the psychiatric institutions in the country.
The Mission of Trust Jesus Mental Health Foundation provides relief to persons with mental illness through benevolence and the saving knowledge of Christ.
Its vision is to be the hub for championing mental health care in Africa and beyond. In recognition of efforts of the Foundation, the president of TJMHF was awarded Triumph Mental Health Champion of the year 2025 at the just-ended Triumph Women’s Awards.
Receiving the items, a Senior Nursing Officer at Pantang Hospital, Madam Florence Okpoti, thanked the foundation for the donation, saying efforts impacted positively on health delivery. –GNA
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Hundreds of street children received a special treat during the Christmas festivities as a result of a collaboration between the management of the La Beach Hotel and the Street Academy in Accra.
It was part of the Hotel’s current arrangement to provide lunch for the children of the Academy every Friday.
Courtesy that partnership, management of the La Beach Hotel feted hundreds of street children housed by the Street Academy, creating a partying moment for the children.
According to officials of the Hotel, the gesture was to let the children feel part of the festivities and not left out.
The children enjoyed delicious meals and snack after which they danced as they enjoyed the moment.
According to the Hotel officials, “the season represents one that every parent gathers their children and shower them with gifts and others to make them happy but sadly, these unfortunate children are left on their own, having no one to care for them.”
“This is an event we intend to make an annual one. Through this, we hope to put some smiles on their faces. It is not proper to leave them on their own.”
The Executive Director of the Academy, Ataa Lartey, expressed gratitude to the management of the hotel, saying that, “this has gone a long way to excite the children and make them feel part of the celebration.”
He said due to the number of children that join around this time of the year, it becomes difficult for the Academy alone to shoulder this responsibility.
“It is not easy to organise such activities alone because it draws a lot of children, that is, those in the Academy and their friends that follow them but with such cooperate supports, we are able to bring them together to share in moments like this,” he told The Spectator.
By Spectator Reporter
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A 30-year-old surrogate mother has delivered a set of quadruplets at The Walking Egg Medical and Fertility Centre at Pokuase in Accra, in a rare surrogacy success that has brought renewed attention to assisted reproductive care in Ghana.
The babies-two boys and two girls- were delivered through a caesarean section in the early hours of Tuesday at 36 weeks and weighed an average 2.5 kilograms each, a weight doctors say was healthy for a multiple pregnancy.
IUI stands for Intrauterine Insemination, a common fertility treatment where healthy sperm are collected, ‘washed’ and concentrated in a lab, and then directly inserted into a woman’s uterus around ovulation using a thin catheter to help sperm reach the egg for fertilisation, often used for unexplained infertility, cervical issues, or mild male factor infertility, and is less invasive than IVF.
Speaking to The Spectator after the surgery, the Medical Director of the Centre, Dr Nana Yaw Osei, said the pregnancy was achieved through Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and was not planned to result in multiple births.
“With IUI, you introduce prepared sperm into the uterus and have no control over how many eggs fertilized.”
“Unlike IVF, where embryos are formed outside the body and the number transferred can be controlled, this outcome was left entirely to nature,” Dr Osei explained.
He said unlike IVF which could result in multiple babies, this is “possibly the first IUI leading to quadruplets in Ghana.”
He revealed that the surrogacy arrangement was necessary because the intended mother had lost her uterus during surgery to remove fibroids, making it medically impossible for her to carry a pregnancy.
“She had no womb of her own, through no fault of hers,” Dr Osei said, adding that “Surrogacy was the only option available for her to have a biological child.”
When scans later showed that the surrogate was carrying four fetuses, the medical team considered fetal reduction, a procedure sometimes used to reduce risks in multiple pregnancies. However, the option was rejected.
“As a strong Christian, fetal reduction is abortion to me,” Dr Osei said. “After discussions with the intended parents and the surrogate, we all agreed to continue with the pregnancy.”
Despite concerns commonly associated with multiple pregnancies, Dr Osei noted that the surrogate experienced no major complications, and the delivery was smooth. Paediatric assessments conducted after birth confirmed that all four babies are healthy.
Dr Osei again indicated that surrogacy, though still widely misunderstood, is recognised under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027).
He urged the public to engage the subject with greater understanding.
“Surrogacy is not about convenience,” he said. “It is about restoring hope to people who have lost the ability to carry a child.”
Describing the moment of delivery, he added, “I was in tears in the theatre. It reminded me why I chose this profession.”
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
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