Increase lepers’ meals allowance – Father Campbell
The Reverend Father Andrew Nii Lantey Campbell, Chairman of the Lepers Aid Committee, on Tuesday appealed to government to increase the daily meal allowance of lepers from 80 pesewas to a more substantial amount.
He said the 80 pesewas meal allowance was inadequate to provide the necessary balanced diet required by the aged for healthy living.
He noted that since the beginning of the year it was just last week that the inmates of both the Weija and Ho Leprosaria received their first quarter monthly allowance for their daily upkeep.
Reverend Father Campbell who is also the Parish Priest of the Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra, made the appeal when the Heaven Sent Ministries (HSM), a non-governmental organization donated boxes of special fortified Rice-Soy Casserole to the Weija Leprosarium.
“Heaven Sent Ministries donated 200 boxes of the special fortified Rice-Soy Casserole, out of which 40 had been given to the Weija Leprosarium, 50 to the Ho Leprosarium, with the rest going to Children’s Hospitals, Sodom and Gomorah and needy Children in the country”, he said.
He called on government to help write off the GHc6,000 electricity bill owed by the Ho Leprosarium as the Electricity Company Limited had threatened to cut off power supply.
He advised the public against stigmatizing Lepers in Ghana and Africa.
Mr Emmanuel Enu, Senior member of the Sekyere’s (Ghana) representative of HSM Ministries who made the presentation, said the ministry was following the footsteps of God as Christianity was all about humanity.
He said the HSM Ministries in Ghana headed by Bishop James Sekyere and his wife Mrs Lydia Sekyere, were helping to reach out to the needy in society to improve upon their living conditions.
He said the special fortified Rice-Soy Casserole which contains 216 nutrients was good for the inmates.
Mr Enu said through the medicinal ministry and pastoral training centre at Afienya, lots of lives were being touched in helping deprived people make progress in life.
He promised that the donation was going to be an annual event.
Receiving the donation, Madam Gladys Maame Adobeah, Section Leader of Weija Leprosarium, said they had been living on the support of benevolent people through Father Campbell.
She thanked the donors and appealed to the public to offer them a helping hand as they were in need of essential things for their survival.
Source: GNA