Your Royal Highness Lady Julia Osei Tutu,
Distinguished guests, cherished partners, ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour and a profound privilege to join you today for the handing over and
commissioning of the EVE Medical Center, a vision born from compassion,
leadership, and a deep commitment to the health and dignity of Ghanaian women.
The EVE Medical Foundation, established by Her Royal Highness Lady Julia Osei
Tutu, stands as a living testament to what happens when empathy meets action, and
when advocacy is transformed into infrastructure. For years, our mothers, daughters,
sisters, and wives have carried heavy burdens, physical, emotional, and psychological,
often in silence. Many health conditions, including mental-health conditions, can be
treated effectively and affordably, yet as a nation, we are confronted with an
uncomfortable truth: the gap between those who need care and those who receive it
remains unacceptably wide.
Today’s commissioning is therefore not just the opening of a building; it is the
opening of a door, a door to access, to dignity, to healing, and to hope.
MENTAL HEALTH: WHAT IT IS, AND WHY IT MATTERS
Mental health is more than the absence of illness. It is the foundation of our ability to
live meaningfully, to relate with others, and to thrive. Drawing from evidence in our
national landscape and from the wisdom of Nunyãdume, allow me to frame mental
health in four simple yet powerful pillars:
Mental health is the ability to cope with life’s stresses.
In Nunyãdume, the elders say:
“When the storm rises suddenly, it is the tree with deep roots that remains
standing.”
A healthy mind is that rooted tree, flexible enough to bend, strong enough to
endure.
When our women carry the weight of homes, workplaces, childbirth, trauma, and
societal expectations, their mental health becomes the quiet pillar that sustains the
entire community.
Mental health is the capacity to realize one’s God-given potential.
The elders also say:
“A seed that is never nurtured will never reveal the forest hidden within it.”
When a woman’s mind is nurtured, through care, support, therapy, or timely
intervention; she blossoms into her highest self. A nation that invests in the mental
well-being of its women invests in its own future.
Mental health is the ability to work productively.
A mentally healthy person is not merely employed, but empowered.
She contributes meaningfully, creates, innovates, and leads.
As our national data shows, poor mental health reduces productivity and drains the
economy, while good mental health fuels growth, stability, and national progress.
Mental health is the capacity to contribute to society.
As Dr. James Kwegyir Aggrey wisely taught us:
“If you educate a man, you educate an individual; but if you educate a woman,
you educate a nation.”
In mental health, this truth becomes even more profound.
Because when you heal a woman, you heal a household.
When you strengthen her mind, you stabilize a family.
When you empower her emotionally, the nation itself stands taller.
In Ghanaian homes, from the bustling cities to the quietest hamlets, women are the
first responders of care, especially in times of mental distress.
They are the ones who notice when a child withdraws, when a husband struggles
silently, when an elderly parent begins to fade.
They carry the burdens, the anxieties, the unspoken worries of entire families, often
while navigating their own struggles.
In Nunyãdume, the elders say:
“The fire that warms the household is the same fire that must be protected from
burning out.”
If our women are the caregivers of the nation, then their mental well-being must be
treated as a national treasure, protected, nurtured, and prioritized.
This is why today matters.
Because by strengthening the mind of the woman, we strengthen the heart of Ghana.
THE NATIONAL CONTEXT & THE ROLE OF EVE MEDICAL CENTER
Across Ghana, more than one in five people live with a mental-health condition at any
given time, yet the treatment gap remains very high.
Access challenges, stigma, limited mental-health infrastructure, and shortages of
trained professionals continue to widen this gap.
We remain profoundly grateful to His Majesty for this visionary support.
The establishment of the EVE Medical Center therefore represents more than
philanthropy, it is strategic national investment. It is an ally to the Mental Health
Authority in expanding access, strengthening community-based care, and ensuring
that women, who often carry the emotional loads of entire households, finally receive
the attention they deserve.
Your Royal Highness, your leadership fills a critical gap in Ghana’s mental-health
landscape.
Today, you have not only built a center, you have built a sanctuary.
As we expand access through initiatives like the EVE Medical Center, we must also
complete the key national infrastructure that will anchor long-term reform. In this
regard, I respectfully draw attention to the Psychiatric Hospital project at Onwe, here
in the Ashanti Region. Its completion will not only strengthen specialized care for
millions but also reduce pressure on our existing facilities and ensure that families,
especially our women who are often the primary caregivers, receive timely, dignified,
and comprehensive support.
Permit me to also acknowledge, with deepest gratitude, the tremendous support the
Mental Health Authority receives from His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. The
provision of fifteen motorbikes last year to strengthen mental-health services in the
Ashanti Region has significantly enhanced our community outreach, home visits, and
follow-up care. These motorbikes have been a lifeline, reaching families in remote
communities, supporting patients who would otherwise be left behind, and
empowering our hardworking mental-health professionals to serve with greater
efficiency.
Your Royal Highness, distinguished leaders and partners, the Mental Health Authority
stands ready to work with all stakeholders to bring this critical project to fruition, for a
healthier and more resilient Ghana.
THE MHA’S COMMITMENT & PARTNERSHIP
As the Mental Health Authority, we reaffirm our commitment to:
• strengthening governance and regulatory frameworks
• deepening community mental-health services
• expanding the workforce
• driving digital innovation
• and forging partnerships that nurture access, dignity, and excellence
We see EVE Medical Center not as a standalone institution, but as a shining branch of
a larger national tree, one that must grow, spread, and shelter generations.
NUNYÃDUME CLOSING: A CALL TO ACTION
In Nunyãdume, the elders remind us:
“The bird does not fly on one wing.”
Ghana cannot rise on the strength of physical health alone.
We need the other wing, mental well-being, to soar.
They also say:
“A woman’s wellness is a nation’s wealth.”
Let this center be a place where every woman who enters finds healing, dignity, and
renewed strength.
Let it be a place where silence finds voice, where pain finds comfort, and where
potential finds wings.
Let it be a place where the mind is not neglected, but nurtured, not as an afterthought,
but as a forethought.
Today, we recommit ourselves, as a nation, to building a Ghana where every woman
can cope, every woman can flourish, every woman can work productively, and every
woman can contribute joyfully to the society she helps sustain.
May this center stand as a beacon of hope.
May it heal generations.
May it light the path forward.
Thank you, and God bless us all.
By Papa Dee, The Stammering Linguist of Nunyadume
Dr. Eugene K Dordoye
Consultant Psychiatrist and Chief Executive, MHA