February 13
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Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>13</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/12/18 7:17 PM Page 8<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018 11<br />
Politics<br />
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced,<br />
where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is<br />
made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to<br />
oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor<br />
property will be safe — Frederick Douglass<br />
Thumbay Group of Dubai<br />
calls on First Lady<br />
ON FRIDAY, <strong>February</strong><br />
9, 2018, the Thumbay<br />
Group of Dubai<br />
led by the<br />
Founder/President,<br />
Mr Thumbay Moideen, led a delegation<br />
made up of Dr Vinod Abraham,<br />
Director –External and Internal<br />
Affairs of the Thumbay Group, the<br />
Board Chairman of National Health<br />
Insurance, Professor Yaw Adu-<br />
Gyamfi and Madam Cecilia Dapaah,<br />
the Minister for Aviation to call on<br />
Her Excellency Mrs Rebecca Akufo-<br />
Addo, following a Memorandum of<br />
Understanding (MoU) signed with<br />
the Ministries of Health and Education<br />
for the establishment of a Medical<br />
University and Teaching Hospital<br />
in the Greater Accra Region, by the<br />
Thumbay Group of Dubai.<br />
Dr Abraham indicated that<br />
the US$ 600 million ultra-modern<br />
health project, will help to pioneer innovative<br />
solutions to health delivery<br />
in Ghana and beyond, particularly in<br />
the West African sub-region.<br />
He said that when completed, the<br />
• Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo (M) with Thumbay Group delegation<br />
university will be the “first of its kind<br />
in the West African sub-region” and<br />
will be a unique medical research and<br />
innovation centre in West Africa offering<br />
programmes including medicine,<br />
dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and<br />
physiotherapy.<br />
He also noted that “the university<br />
will not only cater for Ghanaian students<br />
but also international students<br />
and offer state of the art virtual patient<br />
learning, advanced simulation<br />
centre, among others, which will<br />
transform medical education in the<br />
country and in the region as a<br />
whole.”<br />
In addition to the university, Dr<br />
Abraham said the Teaching Hospital<br />
proposed would have 300 beds and<br />
would be a tertiary care centre for<br />
Ghanaians as well as those from the<br />
sub-region. This, he noted will “help<br />
position Ghana as a medical tourism<br />
destination.”<br />
He assured the First Lady that<br />
the hospital would also provide cost<br />
effective and affordable care to the<br />
poor and needy as well as provide direct<br />
employment to 2,500 Ghanaians<br />
when both projects are completed.<br />
The First Lady expressed her gratitude<br />
to the Thumbay Group for<br />
choosing Ghana for such an enormous<br />
project and pledged her support<br />
to see the project completed.<br />
Thumbay Group is a diversified<br />
international business conglomerate<br />
with its headquarters in DIFC-<br />
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The<br />
Group is a pioneer in using innovation<br />
to constantly find solutions to<br />
health issues.<br />
Realisation of the SDGS key to<br />
Africa’s future — Prez Akufo-Addo<br />
THE PRESIDENT of the Republic, Nana Addo<br />
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described the realisation<br />
of the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable<br />
Development Goals (SDGs) as an investment in<br />
the future of the youth and children of the<br />
African continent.<br />
According to President Akufo-Addo, the 17<br />
UN SDGs “present our generation with the great<br />
opportunity to fight inequality on all fronts, wipe<br />
out extreme poverty, tackle the issues of climate<br />
change, and reverse the degradation and unsustainable<br />
use of our environmental resources.”<br />
It is for this reason that Ghana, the President<br />
indicated, has taken up the challenge of the<br />
SDGs.<br />
“We have captured them in our Co-ordinated<br />
Programme for Economic and Social Development<br />
Policies, which was submitted to Parliament<br />
last November, and we have set up a Governmental<br />
Inter-Ministerial Committee to co-ordinate and<br />
monitor the implementation of the SDGs,” the<br />
President added.<br />
President Akufo-Addo made this known on<br />
Friday, <strong>February</strong> 9, 2018, when he delivered the<br />
opening remarks at a public lecture addressed by<br />
Queen Mathilde of Belgium, at the Great Hall of<br />
the University of Ghana.<br />
The President, who is the co-Chair of the<br />
Group of Advocates of Eminent Personalities of<br />
the SDGs, noted that the Group of Advocates,<br />
which includes Queen Mathilde, has the duty to<br />
promote the universal character of the SDGs, the<br />
engagement of new stakeholders in the implementation<br />
and financing of the global goals, encourage<br />
partnership with civil society and the<br />
private sector, and to share knowledge and best<br />
practices necessary to support accelerated implementation<br />
of the goals.<br />
•President Nana Akufo-Addo in a tete-atete<br />
with Queen Mathilde of Belgium<br />
“We must succeed in removing millions of<br />
people out of poverty, protect our planet, and<br />
provide hope of a secured future to the teeming<br />
youth in the world who have the greatest stake in<br />
the SDGs. And this is exactly what I am firmly<br />
committed to championing, as Co-Chair of the<br />
Advocates,” the President stated.<br />
With Africa at a critical stage in its development,<br />
he noted that the realisation of the SDGs<br />
could mark a major turning point for the continent.<br />
“With some 75 percent of<br />
the world’s poor living in<br />
Africa, poverty eradication remains<br />
an enormous challenge.<br />
But we have a great opportunity,<br />
with the SDGs, to reverse<br />
that, and, with smart policies,<br />
make considerable inroads in<br />
eradicating poverty, and bringing<br />
prosperity and increased<br />
human development to the<br />
continent,” he added.<br />
Achieving SDGs<br />
Achieving the SDGs, President<br />
Akufo-Addo said, “we will<br />
take bold ambition in thought and actions, creativity,<br />
innovation, hard work, and, most critically,<br />
connecting to the positive and abundant energies<br />
of the youth.<br />
“The story of Africa’s hitherto inability to develop<br />
is primarily the story of our damaging colonial<br />
heritage and bad governance. We must make<br />
governance and our governance systems work for<br />
the eradication of poverty and the creation of<br />
prosperity and wealth. And, as we embark on this<br />
path, we must commit to building accountable and<br />
transparent institutions,” he stated.<br />
The President added, “we cannot grow out of<br />
poverty and achieve the SDGs through charity<br />
and the benevolence of others. If we are going to<br />
succeed to move Africa Beyond Aid, this cannot<br />
be a mere slogan. It will take adopting more effective<br />
and appropriate development models, doing<br />
business differently, and making the tough choices<br />
necessary to accelerate inclusive growth in the<br />
economy.”<br />
President Akufo-Addo reiterated his belief<br />
that a key accelerator to achieving the goals is a<br />
strong and vibrant private sector, which has the<br />
space to grow, flourish and unleash the entrepreneurial<br />
talents of the people.<br />
As the African Union’s Gender Champion, he<br />
added that “for our continent to achieve the<br />
SDGs and capture totally our grandeur, we must<br />
succeed in fully unleashing the potential of<br />
Africa’s women. This is an absolute priority for<br />
me, as it should be for one privileged to be labelled<br />
the African Union Gender Champion.”