The Charismatic Evangelistic Ministries (CEM), has organised a medical outreach for thousands of residents of the Cape Coast Metropolis and adjoining districts, screening, treating and giving them medications for a variety of health conditions.
The church, together with its large medical team, set up a semblance of a polyclinic at the Adisadel College Park with various units including a pharmacy, physiotherapy, eye clinic, dental clinic, and Ear, Nose and Throat units to cater for the patients.
The team also dewormed thousands of children and provided them with more than 10,000 sets of stationery, cups and plates, footwear, and clothing.
Another team of specialist doctors, led by Dr Opoku Ampomah, the CEO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, collaborated with the Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital to undertake surgeries for more than 100 people with growth-related conditions such as fibroid, hernia and goiter.
The gesture was an integral part of a five-day crusade held by CEM in collaboration with the ecumen
ical bodies in Cape Coast.
Earlier in the week, the church donated assorted items including food, buckets, mattresses and clothing to thousands of people and on Friday, more than 7,000 Persons with Disabilities are being feted and given some relief items such as wheelchairs as well.
Rev Steve Mensah, the Founding Bishop of CEM, and host of the crusade, noted that he believed in medical interventions as much as in miracles, stressing the need for sick people to seek medical attention.
‘I believe that miracles, like medical interventions, are the interventions of God and so screening and treatment are very important,’ he said.
In addition to the treatment, they were offering prayers and counselling for the patients, he added.
Rev Mensah emphasised that the gesture was a demonstration of the love of God to people, particularly the marginalised and less privileged in society.
Dr Kezia Malm, a Doctor with the CEM medical team, observed that many of the cases they attended to were related to fungal, skin, uri
nary tract and respiratory tract infections.
‘The good thing is that when you see a doctor there and we diagnose you, we give you free medication right on the field; you don’t have to go to another pharmacy to buy,’ she explained.
‘We have seen a lot of people with eye problems like refractive errors and other conditions and we take care of them and give them the glasses that they need,’ she added.
Dr Ampomah in a interview with the GNA, indicated that about 108 surgical procedures, including plastic surgeries, had been undertaken since the afternoon of Thursday, October 17, with the patients doing well and some of them discharged.
Speaking on some of the conditions, he noted that hernia could be life-threatening if patients did not receive treatment in time.
He said the condition happened in both children and adults but was very common among manual labourers whose work required them to lift heavy objects, putting a strain around their abdominal space.
Other causes, he noted were chronic cough, protract
ed constipation or any condition that increased pressure around the abdomen.
‘It is quite common but it can be repaired easily if you have the right expertise but unfortunately, the problem is that a lot of people who are affected are manual labourers and people with poor socio-economic background.
‘So, this effort that we are making helps to bridge that gap. We are bringing the expertise to the doorstep of the people and removing the financial barrier,’ he added.
Dr Ampomah emphasised that the collaboration with the Metropolitan Hospital offered mentoring opportunities for the doctors, deepened partnerships and improved confidence in the hospital.
Dr Eric Fenin Appiah, who was dealing with fibroid cases, narrated how some fibroids removed were bigger than babies with one of them weighing as heavy as 5.2 kilograms.
‘And yesterday, there was a 38-year-old woman with one child who wants another child, and I took out about 50 fibroid nodules from her uterus and I had to repair the uterus. But for subsequent
pregnancies, she has to go through Caesarean Section.
‘We have started discharging some of them because they are doing well,’ he said.
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Oguaamanhen who witnessed some of the surgeries, expressed gratitude to the church and the medical professionals and indicated that he was overwhelmed by the gesture.
‘My only wish is that the good Lord will give you the strength, the wisdom and more resources not to limit it to Cape Coast alone but also to other parts of the world.
‘After all, we are all serving God and through that people will get to know the importance of God in their lives and come and worship Him with us,’ he said.
Some beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the church.
Madam Cecilia Mintah, a woman in her seventies, said ‘I came here with an eye problem and pains around my abdomen and they have been good to me.’
‘They have taken very good care of me; I have received medicine and glasses for my eyes. I ask for God’s blessing upon their lives in all their endeavours,’ Mad
am Elizabeth Warden from Elmina, also said.
Source: Ghana News Agency