By: Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee/Freelance Journalist
The Tema Women’s Hospital and Fertility Center has launched a special project to mark the 2023 Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.
The launch came off on Monday, October 2, 2023, at the forecourt of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
At the launch was the Tema Metro Director of Health, Dr. Deidre Sally Quartey, DDNS of Tema Metro, and representatives from Tema Women’s Hospital led by the Medical Director, Dr. Yaa Owusu Baah.
In an interview with Amaghanaonline.com, Dr. Yaa Owusu Baah noted that her outfit has over the years been at the forefront of championing women’s health issues.
Breast cancer, she asserted, is one that keeps wreaking havoc on women, and as an institution that has the interest and well-being of women at the core of its heart and services, decided to put this together.
“Though we are a fertility center, we decided to also do this free screening for the women. Women’s wellbeing on the whole is our priority. So, for the past two years, we have been organizing free screening at our facility for free,” Dr. Owusu Baah said.
Dr. Yaa Owusu Baah revealed that the target this year is market women. These women, she explained, are most of the time busy trading at the market so they have less time for their health.
This is why the hospital has put up a temporary structure at the TMA forefront so market women can walk in and have their breasts screened, she added.
What happens if any woman tests positive?
Dr. Owusu Baah disclosed that her facility is able to manage the situation to a certain point, after which a referral is made for the woman to continue with the treatment at another health facility.
“We do the management up to a certain point. If the lumps are not malignant, we can remove them here. If they are, we refer the women,” Dr. Yaa said.
She called on all women in Tema and Ghana at large to take advantage of the awareness month and get screened at their facility or any other closer to them.
Expectations
For the month of October, the hospital, aside from the free screening, will also teach the women how to examine their breasts themselves every month after their periods.
Dr. Yaa stressed that early detection can improve the outcome of breast cancer treatment, and ultimately save lives so there’s the need for every woman of reproductive age to have their breasts checked.
She announced that from the 2nd -5th of October, between 9-2 p.m. women can have their screening at the forecourt of TMA.
Till the end of October, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the screening will be done at the Tema Women’s Hospital and Fertility Center.
About Tema Women’s Hospital
The Tema Women’s Hospital was established in 1996 by Doctor Paul Owusu-Baah.
The prestigious hospital is the second specialist hospital to be established in Tema offering fertility health care with modern technology.
For over 27 years, Tema Women’s Hospital has offered fertility health care to women not in only Tema and Ghana, but the whole of West Africa and even women from the diaspora.
The hospital’s IVF programme is one of the best in the country, as some of the children delivered are doctors, lawyers, and so on today. This is what the hospital takes pride in.
On the overall, Tema Women’s Hospital has made strides in wiping the tears of women and bringing joy to the home of many, including a 60-year-old woman who was in desperate need of a child in order to break away from the infertility stigma she had endured all those years.
