On August 9th, 2024, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints donated a mental health unit to the Bechem Government Hospital in the Afaho region of Ghana. In attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony were members of the medical community, local media, municipal authorities, religious leaders from the Muslim community, and president Kennedy Frimpong Amoah, district president of the Sunyani District of The Church.
Brother Amoah hands off the Bechem mental health facility
Brother Amoah hands off the Bechem mental health facility to Dr. Twumasi David, Medical Superintendent of the Bechem Government Hospsital, 9 August 2024.© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.The facility will aid greatly in addressing mental health issues in the region. As Dr. Joyce Benning, Deputy Director of Clinical Care noted, “Mostly, mental health issues are pushed to the background. It’s really a significant fact that we were able to identify this gap and fill it. We hope that the stigmatization that is attached to mental health issues will decrease with this edifice and that the treatment gap would be narrowed.”
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- Community-leaders-in-Bechem,-Ghana-gather-for-hand-off-ceremony-of-Mental-Health-Facility.
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In his opening prayer, Brother Amoah thanked the Lord for His mercy and for providing this facility as a means of reaching out to His children with mental health challenges. Following the invocation, the event chairperson, Nana Addai Asubonteng, gave some opening remarks and commented, "This church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, truly follows the teachings of the Bible because of what I am witnessing today." In offering his sincere and heartfelt gratitude to The Church for “their thoughtfulness and vision to reach out to the community with this modern mental health unit,” the municipal chief executive quipped, “like Oliver Twist, we ask for more.”
Following the tape cutting and ceremonial addresses, the facility was officially opened for inspection by all in attendance. Comments such as “beautiful,” “excellent facility,” and “The Church is good to provide such a unit,” conveyed the overall sense of praise and gratitude felt by the community.
Mr. Asubonteng, as a result of his appreciation for the donation, requested that The Church set up a branch for worship in Bechem.