The Melcom Care Foundation, a subsidiary of the Melcom Groups of Companies has made donations to over 25 Medical Centres across the country, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and DRN Ghana.
The items donated included medical fridges, shopping vouchers, Kenwood steam iron, Akai standing fan, Akai Rice Cooker and Television sets.
Addressing the gathering at a short ceremony to hand over the items to the various institutions, Mr. Godwin Avenorgbo, Group Director of Communications for Melcom, highlighted the disparities in healthcare infrastructure and services between urban and rural areas, as well as between well-endowed and less-endowed health centers within urban environments.
“Reports by experts indicate that there is a huge gap in healthcare facilitation between the urban and the rural communities of our beloved country and even in a worst-case scenario between the more endowed and the less endowed health centers within our urban environments,” he stated.
Mr. Avenorgbo emphasized the need for Corporate Ghana to collaborate with health experts to identify and address areas of need, particularly in providing basic yet necessary medical equipment to ensure speedy service delivery.
“Bridging that gap requires a lot of re-thinking and prioritization of future investment plans. In the meantime, it behoves on Corporate Ghana to identify areas of need in collaboration with our health experts to fill in the gaps,” he said.
The donation of 25 medical fridges comes in addition to Melcom’s past contributions to healthcare facilities, which include funding the provision of well-equipped ambulance vehicles, wheelchairs, walking aids, water coolers, sanitizers, soap, and furniture to various hospitals. Melcom has also added value to its blood donation campaigns by donating medical refrigerators for the preservation of harvested blood.
Mr. Avenorgbo detailed the significant contributions made by Melcom in recent years. “In 2021, Melcom donated medical fridges to ten hospitals and another batch of ten medical fridges the following year, 2022,” he noted.
In addition to the medical fridges, Melcom Ghana also approved the donation of furniture to the new pathology department of the 37 Military Hospital.
Furthermore, Melcom Ghana recognized the efforts of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in informing, educating, and entertaining the public.
In support of the GJA’s nationwide outreach activities leading up to their 75th anniversary and annual awards in September, Melcom Ghana presented shopping vouchers and two television sets to winners in two categories of the GJA Awards.
Melcom Ghana also acknowledged the work of DRN Ghana, an NGO focused on climate change education in secondary schools, by providing shopping vouchers, Kenwood steam irons, Akai standing fans, and Akai rice cookers to winners in the Eastern and Central Regions.
Mr. Avenorgbo concluded his remarks by calling for increased investment, coordination, and fair resource management to improve healthcare delivery, particularly in rural areas.
“We must begin to take steps to bridge the national healthcare delivery gap and deprivation by improving on investment, coordination, fair resource management in favour of rural communities,” he urged.
He pledged that Melcom would continue to extend its support to rural community health facilities and suggested that future recognition by the National Blood Service should include investments in medical equipment as a determining factor for awards.
Dr. Shirley Owusu-Ofori, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Blood Cells who represented the Board of the Blood Service and the Ministry of Health, expressed profound gratitude to Melcom for their consistent and generous contributions over the years.
Dr. Owusu-Ofori acknowledged the exceptional commitment of Melcom, noting that few corporate organizations match their dedication to supporting blood services.
“Not many corporate organizations do what Melcom does,” she remarked. “Over the years, Melcom has been so magnanimous in supporting blood services across the country.”
One of the remarkable aspects of Melcom’s support is their proactive approach. “There are many corporate organizations we approach to support us, to give blood and also to support us in cash or in kind. I think Melcom did not even wait for us to come to them. But out of their own magnanimity, they set up over the years a platform for staff and the general public to come give blood,” she explained.
“They not only give to support our collection drives, they not only give the donor refreshments and the ambience and their venue, but they also go beyond to support in giving us equipment such as we are here today to witness,” Dr. Owusu-Ofori noted.
She added that “We are expected to have 10 units per 1,000 population of blood available. Ghana is in the reach of six units per 1,000 population. But for us to have reached the six units per 1,000 population, it has been because of organizations such as Melcom, who have supported voluntary donations across the whole of Ghana.
“We are grateful to them and we take this opportunity to reach out to Corporate Ghana, reach out to societies and to organizations that can do the same, that can invite the blood service and our blood establishments, approved blood establishments to come do the blood drives on their premises to save lives,” she urged.
