Gender Minister pledges support for five-year-old boy whose arm was amputated

Minster for Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Ms Cynthia Morrison, has offered to sponsor the education of the five-year old boy whose left arm was amputated, up to the Senior High School level.

This came up when she visited the boy at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital on Sunday.

She said, leaving him in the care of his parents, would deny him his dream of becoming a medical doctor because they did not have the means of taking care of him

“He is Kofi and I am also Efua. I will take him as my child, enroll him in my school and support him till he completes SHS.” she said.

Ms Morrison who was visibly sad about the boy’s situation expressed worry about the maltreatment meted out to many children and reiterated the need for parents and society to treat children with utmost respect, care and dignity.

She said it is important that parents punish their children in a manner that would not jeopardize their lives.

“Children must be treated as humans, even when they make mistakes. We should use appropriate means to correct them, and we must desist from treating them as if they are not human beings.” she cautioned.

The Minister commended the good Samaritans who rescued the boy and brought him to the hospital, as well as individuals and organisations who had offered various form of support, and added that an account should be opened for him for his tertiary education in future.

Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi, Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North and Deputy Minister for Education in Charge of TVET, also advised parents to plan for the number of children they could cater for.

She said it is the responsibility of parents to take proper care of their children and guide them to secure a better future and not to leave them to hustle for a living.

The boy, currently receiving treatment at the CCTH, had his arm amputated when a machete wounds inflicted by his 22-year-old step-mother was left untreated some months ago at Ahomfie, a village near Abura Dunkwa.

He was brought to the hospital by two good Samaritans who spotted him in town on Monday, January 28 and became alarmed by his condition and later reported the case to the Abura Dunkwa Police.

Upon examination, doctors at the hospital were left with no option than to amputate the affected arm to prevent further damage.

Source: GNA