The First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo has urged women and girls to take advantage of breast screening exercises in the month of October to check for breast cancer.

October is marked globally as“Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of the disease.

Addressing constituents during a tour of the Tema Central, Tema East and Tema West constituencies of the Greater Accra region on Tuesday, the First Lady advised all ladies to “Be sure to have your breast checked before the month ends.”

“When we check and detect early that there is a problem, then, it can be treated before it worsens so let us take advantage of the opportunity now,” she urged.

In a series of durbars held in her honour during the tour, Mrs Akufo-Addo warned party faithful against apathy in the upcoming general elections.

She urged them to go “from house to house, door to door” to propagate the works of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and retain it in power.

“Let no one deceive you. Once you have registered, go out and vote and make sure you sell the message to others so that we all ensure that the good works we have started is not curtailed,” she said.

The First Lady seized the opportunity to outdoor the parliamentary aspirants for the three constituencies including Yves Nii Noi Hanson, Tema Central, Titus Glover for Tema East and Carlos Ahenkorah for Tema West.

As part of her tour, Mrs Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of a recreational and health centre for the aged at Tema Central and made a donation of medical equipment and consumables to the Tema General Hospital.

The items were particularly to support maternal and child care at the facility.

“With support of our partners we have made significant impact in various sectors across the country and we are hopeful this will also improve quality care at the hospital,” she said.

She pledged the continuous support of the Rebecca Foundation to the hospital and the health sector in general.

Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital, Dr Richard Anthony expressed gratitude to the First Lady for the support.

He said the hospital was well placed to be upgraded to a regional hospital as it attended to close to one million patients annually and received referrals from various parts of the country.

“We are also close to a major interchange and Tema motorway and our mission is to become a first class hospital therefore we are strategically located to become a regional hospital,” he said.

Dr Anthony praised the First Lady for the numerous interventions made in support of maternal and child care in the health sector.

On her part, Mad. Gifty Ntim, market leader of the Texpo Market at Baastsona in Tema Central constituency appealed to the First Lady to ensure the facilitation of soft loans under government “Anidaso Loan” to cushion traders in the aftermath of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

She also requested for the legalisation of the market to move it from a weekly market to an everyday one to boost economic activities in the area, as government helps refurbish the market.