The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday with patients at the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital and the Autism Awareness, Care and Training Centre at Kokomlemle, both in Accra, where he gave an assurance that the government would focus attention on improving the well-being of the vulnerable and excluded in society.

Dressed in an all-white kaftan outfit, Dr Bawumia, who was accompanied by some Ministers of State, including the Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery, and the Minister of Gender and Social Protection, Mrs Cynthia Morrison, interacted with the children, who joined him to cut the birthday cake.

The Vice-President presented the children with gifts and also donated GH¢10,000 to the hospital and GH¢20,000, 25 bags of rice and five cartons of cooking oil to the Autism Centre.

Rationale

Addressing staff at the Children’s Hospital, Vice-President Bawumia thanked God for his life and explained that he decided to spend his birthday with the children to bring joy to them and show them love.

He commended the staff for their dedicated service, saying: “Even as the demands at the hospital keep increasing and the resources remain the same, you continue to do your best.”

Responding to a request to help improve infrastructure and other conditions at the hospital, the Vice-President promised to ensure that the facility was included in the digitisation agenda of the government.

He mentioned the Korle Bu Teaching and the 37 Military hospitals as some of the beneficiaries of the programme.

Autism Centre

At the Autism Centre, the Vice-President stressed the need for Ghanaians to make efforts to understand autism and how it affected the development of children.

“We do not understand autism and so we discriminate, but we are all the same. We have not done well as a country when it comes to children with special needs,” he said.

Dr Bawumia commended the director and the staff of the centre for their tireless work over the years and advised them to continue to take good care of the children.

He gave an assurance that the government would continue to support the centre to offer the best care for the children, saying the “government wants to build an inclusive society which will focus on the vulnerable and excluded in society”.

Appeal

Earlier, the Medical Superintendent at the Children’s Hospital, Dr Maame Yaa Nyarko, had said the facility, which is the biggest of its kind in the country, is 94 years this year but was still housed in old buildings, some of which had developed cracks.

She, therefore, appealed for the rehabilitation of the hospital, as efforts were made to re-wire the facility, including the replacement of equipment in its theatre.

The Board Chairman of the hospital, Rev. Father Campbell, called for the construction of a bigger, more modern Children’s Hospital at the outskirts of Accra.

He commended Dr Bawumia for his show of love to the needy and the under-privileged in society.

Appreciation

For her part, the Director of the Autism Centre, Mrs Serwaa Quaynor, expressed appreciation to the Vice-President and his entourage for the visit and support.

She recalled circumstances which led to the establishment of the centre and appealed to Ghanaians to stop the name-calling, discrimination, stigmatisation and neglect of children with autism.

Mrs Quaynor further appealed for regular support for the centre, since the work there was very challenging.