Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of New Africa Foundation, Nana Kwame Bediako has rented a fully furnished five (5) bedroom apartment at North-Ridge for the family of the conjoined twins for two (2) years.
His kind gesture was after he visited the conjoined family at Nsawam and to his dismay; the family of five lived in a singled bedroom with no kitchen and toilet facility.
“I wanted to see how the family have been living for the past years, and how God gave Ghana our first conjoined twins, I wanted to see the parents and their background so I travelled to Nsawam and when I got to their house, I realised that they were living in a single room for seventeen years. So I asked them if they had a kitchen, they said no, what of bathroom, they said they had a shared bathroom but we don’t have a toilet and that is what really touched me”.
Mr. Bediako narrated that after the story of the first conjoined twins, he was eager to do anything he could to help his country and also support efforts by government to provide financial support for the family for a successful surgery.
“When my foundation, the New Africa Foundation reached out to the doctors at Ridge, they believe that if we could find an apartment close to the Ridge hospital which could be two to three minutes away that could help so we went ahead to rent a place in North-Ridge”.
He added that “i can only describe this gesture as God’s grace. For some reason, the conjoined twins has brought all these favour to this family, and has made the nation realised that we all have national responsibilities”.
Mr. Bediako believes that his kind gesture will also bring the awareness to others who might help donate in other aspects of the lives of the children and parents.
When asked what becomes of the family after the two years rent expires, Mr. Bediako replied that “for now they have a home, and the family having a place to live is very much important as the surgery and we have two years to think, so that shouldn’t be a problem, if they are okay today, they should be okay tomorrow and tomorrow next, the future is bright for them, I believe so”.
Mr Agyeman-Manu also expressed gratitude to the New Africa Foundation for the gesture on behalf of the government.
“What the foundation has done is a demonstration of how Ghanaians would want to care about those who are vulnerable,” Mr Agyeman-Manu said.
The minister for health, Mr. Agyeman-Manu said “when the twins were brought here, I had discussions with the Medical Director and his team on the needs of the family and the twins. The discussions included if a psychologist had been assigned to the family and the answer was positive”.
“In order to facilitate their movement in and out of the hospital, we started asking where they lived and in our needs assessment, we had to put in accommodation because they lived in Nsawam. Not long after that, while we were writing to the office of the President for the release of funds for the medical team to do what they needed to do, the team informed me that a philanthropist had actually gone ahead to secure an accommodation for the family for two years”. He said
The Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Mrs Charity Sarpong, recounted the delivery of the first-ever conjoined twins in the head at the Nsawam on March 30, 2021, and how they were transferred to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital immediately for the necessary medical interventions that would lead to their separation.
She said since March 2020 till date, the technical team made up of specialists pooled from all over the country had been collaborating with international medical specialists outside the country in preparation toward the separation. “We hope to see a very successful operation,” she said.
See pictures of the fully furnished five bedroom apartment here…
