The Charter President of the club, Mr Edward Adzimah, who announced this at a fundraising ceremony at Sakumono in Accra last Saturday, said the facility was a major priority of the club to help reduce the incidence of diabetes in the country.

He said when established, the centre would provide free medical screening and medications for victims and also offer advocacy programme on the fight against the disease.

The Lions Club is a volunteering group which started in 1917 with over 47,000 individual clubs and 1.4 million members across the world. It serves over 200 communities around the world.

The mission of the club is to empower volunteers to serve their communities on humanitarian needs and the promotion of peace.

Silent killer

Mr Adzimah said there were about four million cases of diabetes in the country and that the disease was one of the major causes of death around the world.

According to him, diabetes was one of the silent killer diseases in the country as it does not show symptoms until it gets to a critical stage.

The president, therefore, said it had become necessary to embark on a massive awareness creation to encourage people to do regular checkups to know their status.

“If each individual is able to know his or her status, it will make the person wary of his diet and take safety precautions to reduce the impact of the disease.

I know people who were diagnosed with the disease about 30 years ago and they are still surviving,” Mr Adzimah added.

The president appealed to stakeholders and other corporate bodies to come on board and offer support to hasten the construction of the facility, stating that “we know the government cannot do everything, we as individuals and associations should be able to offer support anytime we identify a problem in the society.”

Commendation

The District Governor of the club, Dr Kwaku Mensah-Bonsu, commended members of the Excel Lions Club for their service to society and that the construction of the centre would help reduce the impact of diabetes in the country.

“At the Tema General Hospital, there is an eye centre which was started by the Tema Lions Club some years back but is now completed.

Same way I believe this vision of yours to construct the diabetes centre will also materialise to serve the good people of this country,” he said.

For her part, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Waguon, Mrs Lydia Alhassan, and a former member of the club, also expressed her gratitude to the club for its decision to construct the centre and pledged her support towards its timely completion.