He said the situation where lepers after being cured were sometimes not accepted by their families was not the best. Dr Akoto was speaking at the commissioning of the Leprosy Unit of the Kokofu Government Hospital at Kokofu, in the Ashanti Region, over the weekend.

The two eight-capacity bed wards was built by the Lepers Aid, Ghana, at the cost of GH?548,067. Dr Akoto said the hospital, which was opened in 1953 as leprosarium, was later turned into a hospital, neglecting the treatment of leprosy.

He said last year, the hospital recorded 31 new cases of the disease, a situation he said, called for the intensification of the educational campaign.The Medical Superintendent commended the Lepers Aid Ghana for providing the hospital with the facility and expressed the hope that it would be put to good use.

Mr Kwaku Kyei Baffour, Bekwai Municipal Chief Executive said government would rehabilitate all the hospitals in the municipality. He also commended the Lepers Aid Ghana for providing the community with such a facility and expressed the hope that it would go a long way to break the transmission chain of the disease by identifying, treating and managing lepers at the early stages.

The Reverend Fr. Andrews Campbell, Board Chairman of Lepers Aid Ghana said Lepers Aid, for the past 24 years, had engaged in several activities aimed at raising funds and bringing to the public, the needs and aspiration of neglected cured lepers.

He said the Lepers Aid had raised funds to build a multi-purpose hall at Ho, in the Volta Region to train cured lepers, a resettlement centre at Weija in the Greater Accra Region as well as a shelter for cured lepers at Nkanchina, in the Northern Region.

Rev. Fr. Campbell appealed to Ghanaians to contribute immensely towards supporting the work of the Lepers Aid Ghana.