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The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has pledged to revamp the veterans’ clinic, located at Amasaman, into a modern facility to enable it to take care of the health needs of veterans and their families.
That would also enable the health facility to serve other individuals living in the area.
At the launch of this year’s poppy appeal in Accra last Friday, Mr Agyeman-Manu said a team from the Ministry’s Infrastructure Department would visit the facility to assess its current state and how best the Ministry could support it.
In the interim, he donated GH¢100,000 from the Ministry and further made a personal donation of GH¢10,000 to the Veteran Administration of Ghana (VAG) to enable it to acquire hospital equipment for the facility.
The VAG, last year, constructed a clinic for its members at Amasaman in the Ga West District in Accra to help ease the ever-increasing pressure on the 37 Military Hospital.
The facility, however, requires logistics and hospital equipment to make it functional and convenient for use by the veterans and their families.
This year’s Poppy Appeal was marked with a live performance from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Regimental Band which thrilled the audience with some classical tunes as well as some orchestra performances.
It was graced by some high-ranking military officials as well as some surviving veterans and their families.
The administration also sold poppies to the attendees to raise funds towards equipping the clinic
The GAF also supported the VAG with GH¢200,000 from its Internally Generated Funds, while the Ghana Military Academy and the GAF Command and Staff College gave GH¢1,000 each.
The Ghana Immigration Service also supported VAG with GH¢2,000.
The celebration of the Red Poppy, also known as the Remembrance Day, falls on November 11 each year.
The event is organised through the selling of poppies to the public to raise funds to support Ghanaian veterans and the families of the dead veterans of the two world wars.
As part of the occasion, red poppies are worn to honour the heroes.
Mr Agyeman-Manu also encouraged VAG to intensify its public education to sensitise the public to appreciate the sacrifices the veterans made and continue to make to safeguard the peace, progress and development of the country.
In addition, he appealed to the administration to intensify its efforts and other means of generating income in order to supplement the voluntary donations and government subvention.
He also appealed to all public, private and academic institutions, as well as individuals and philanthropists, to generously extend assistance in diverse ways to support VAG through the patronage of the poppy and in other ways.
The Executive Director of VAG, Captain Ben Edmund Duah (retd), said the veterans and military widows were confronted with many challenges, the greatest among them being healthcare delivery and the long delays in processing widows' pensions.
Normally, he said, money realised from the sale of poppies went a long way to support the administration in trying to fulfil its core mandate.
The amount raised last year, he said, had been used to refurbish the old ramshackle VAG clinic.
He added that the Commander of 37 Military Hospital had promised to provide the necessary medical personnel to man the clinic, once the needed equipment had been acquired.
