Hope Xchange Medical Centre, a private health facility in Kumasi has offered to provide free medical treatment for victims of sexual assault in the Ashanti region.

Dr Adoma Odame, a Senior Paediatrician, who announced this said Hope Xchange was ready to offer the needed support to bring relief to children who fell prey to the unfortunate incidence of rape, defilement, sodomy and other forms of sexual violence in society.

She has appealed to parents, guardians, the police and other key stakeholders who were in the area of caring for victims of sexual violence to refer such victims to the facility for prompt treatment.

Dr Odame made the announcement at the Ashanti Regional Child Protection Committee meeting organized by the Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the Department of Children of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in Kumasi.

The Committee discussed issues about children’s welfare, some projects for children during the COVID-19 era and ways of addressing the problems children faced in society.

The Committee comprised of representatives from the Department of Children, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Community Development, Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in child welfare and the media.

Dr Odame, pointed out that parents and guardians of rape, defilement and forcible sodomy as well as other sexual violence were mostly poor and unable to pay for medical treatment, a situation which often posed serious health conditions and sometimes, death to the affected persons.

“Such victims are mostly poor, the fees charged at some medical facilities discourage them from seeking health attention,” she stated, adding that there was the need to find a way for such victims in society.

The Reverend Stephen Ofosu Darfour, Ashanti Regional Director of the Department of Children, said the Committee would continue with its education campaign of the COVID-19 to protect more children from contracting the virus.

The Committee also called for stronger collaborations and increased public education to reduce or end child marriage, defilement, streetism, and child labour in the Ghanaian society.