By Dzifa Tetteh Tay
What started as a normal day for a 14-year-old Junior High School student in the year 2020 at Bawdie near Bogoso in the Western Region ended in a devastating road crash leading to the amputation of his left leg.
The budding footballer, Gideon Mends (not his real name), with an ambition to become famous like the Brazilian superstar Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, said he still felt the pain of the incident and always questioned why he was the only one who was severely injured.
“We were three friends who were enjoying life riding on one motorbike when a truck hit us from behind,” he shared his story in an interview with tears in his eyes at the Orthopaedic Training Centre (OTC) in Nsawam in the Eastern Region as he recalled the event.
He disclosed that, although the truck driver stopped to help them, he failed to pay for their hospital bills, which left his parents in financial distress as they had to pay for every pesewa of the medical bills, which was obviously unbudgeted for.
Gideon said he had come to the OTC to receive training on how to use prosthetics to start a new life of walking freely on his own.
He disclosed that, whenever he recalled the day of the event, which left him requiring an amputation of his leg, he felt traumatised and that he needed to undergo emotional and psychological healing aside from his physical healing, which took place three years ago.
“Usually, people are of the opinion that when a person is involved in a road crash, it was automatic to get healed in all areas, but that is not true at all. The physical wounds may heal but the psychological and emotional healing doesn’t happen easily. It could stay with you for a long time or even forever, “he said with his voice trembling.
He said the fact that his dream of being an internationally recognised footballer had been shattered hurt him badly all the time, especially when he saw children playing in his neighbourhood or chanced on professional footballers playing a tournament on television, and so he had stopped watching television to maintain his sanity.
The victim of road crash stated that it was important that society take the issue of mental health of road crash survivors seriously to enable them to overcome the shock that came with the incident and help them move on with their lives.
He was grateful to the OTC for the opportunity given to him to get back on his feet as it was years ago before the road crash happened.
“I am sure many of the pupils in my school will not obviously notice my disability, unlike when I didn’t have prosthetics, and so they cannot make fun of me as they used to. I thank OTC for the opportunity to be happy again and also that they are helping other children and their parents,” he said with a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, a parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said the fact that despite the Orthopaedic Training Centre operating even under financial challenges, it had taken it upon itself to support many victims and their families was worth applauding.
“When you compare the price of the prosthetics here and those from other facilities, you will not believe the difference. There was no way people like us could afford to buy them for our children if they hadn’t helped us to do so. The authorities here are lifesavers and have given people like us an opportunity to smile,” she said.
The parent called on all public-spirited persons and the government to support the OTC to be able to help more persons in need of various appliances and also train more technicians to produce a good number to alleviate the suffering of many people who have lost their limbs.
For over six decades, the OTC which is a facility being operated by the Catholic Church, has been of help to many persons with disabilities all over the country.
The Managing Director for the Centre, Sister Elizabeth Newman, disclosed in an interview that she had witnessed firsthand how the impact of road crashes had changed the lives of many individuals and families, and sometimes she shuddered.
In 2023, she said the Centre treated 1,360 patients with 473 road crash victims, which included 34 cases of children and 191 adults that resulted in amputation.
“It is heartbreaking when a child is run over and the driver fails to stop. When a driver stops but does not help victims to pay their hospital bills, it is equally devastating. We must protect these innocent children who deserve to live their lives to the fullest,” she said.
She expressed concern about the safety of children on the road, some of whom she observed were infants being carried on the lap of adults or even strapped at the back of their mothers on motorbikes to travel.
Sister Newman said the trend of both children and adults being overloaded on motorbikes endangered their lives and all other road users, and so there was the need for the matter to be taken seriously to avert future disasters.
She attributed the practice to lack of enforcement by persons entrusted with that responsibility and carelessness on the part of some parents and guardians and therefore urged them to work at preventing such activities and also called for a collective action to deal with the menace.
Over the years, the Orthopaedic Training Centre has been noted for its provision of comprehensive support beyond its core duty of medical care, including provision of orthotics by attending to the educational needs of some of their clients through scholarships and setting up businesses for their clients to give them a life of dignity.
With the OTC, not only their clients are supported, but when necessary, help is extended to even the parents of their clients to enable them to take care of their children to make lives better for them.
The Managing Director disclosed that her passion for person’s with disabilities stems from her father’s experience as an amputee due to World War II, which had encouraged her to be of service to humanity in that regard for over 50 years.
However, things have not been rosy for the OTC, as she disclosed that one of the major challenges of the Centre had been a difficulty in getting raw materials into the country for their products because many of the items needed for making the orthopaedic appliances were not readily available in the country and needed to be imported.
The Managing Director stated that less than half of their staff salaries were paid under government subvention, and so the rest was shouldered by the Centre, which put a lot of financial burden on them, and so they needed more of government’s support for salary payment.
She also appealed for tax exemptions on their imported materials to enable them to help more people since the facility is a non-profit, which gives more appliances at a discounted price.
She expressed concern at the non-availability of a counselor at the Centre to handle issues of clients of both road crashes and victims of other cases and hoped that the OTC would be able to afford one soon.
This will help address the emotional and psychological needs of some of their clients, such as Gideon, to give them every form of assistance they need to make their lives better.
Sister Newman called on all religious, traditional, and opinion leaders to be actively involved in the promotion of exclusivity at all levels and places to deal with issues of stigmatisation of persons with disabilities, as it was a challenge for some of their young clients to stay in school or socialise with others due to name calling.
The Orthopaedic Training Centre’s impact over the past years has been commendable with the Brother Tarcisius Prosthetics and Orthotics Training College, which trains students in prosthetics and orthotics technology to produce more appliances of local and international standards for the Centre and other institutions where they would find themselves.
The Centre also has a new branch in Walewale in the North East Region, which was opened in January this year to take care of clients from the northern part of the country.
As far back as 1965, the OTC had used a mobile unit which travelled to the area every January and June to ensure their services were accessible to all those who needed it, however, they had observed it would be more helpful to have another facility there to serve their clients better.
The Managing Director for the OTC disclosed that although they had received help from some embassies and groups and individuals over the years to support their services, they needed more local support to enable them to reach out to more people to walk and live their lives in dignity.
“Over the years, I have seen families shattered by road crashes, but I have also seen some lives transformed because of the support we gave them. We cannot stop; else we will fail people. We have a responsibility to empower people with disabilities to foster a more inclusive and compassionate society, which we will all be proud about,” she said.
Usually when road crashes occur, it affects people in different ways, directly or indirectly, and one of such is Georgina Atsufui Kpodovia, a woman who lost her husband to road crash.
Her voice trembled as she recalled the event of September 25, 2023, when her husband, Christopher Senanu Aniklo, had a brief conversation with her informing her that he was leaving for the country’s 2024 general election-related exercise on behalf of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Christopher, a 43-year-old carpenter and dedicated NDC member, had assured his wife that if times improved, he would set up a convenience store for her. He was passionate about politics, serving as the Coordinator for the Dade-Agbo Ward in the Tema East Constituency in the Greater Accra Region.
However, tragedy struck when Christopher, riding pillion on a motorbike, was allegedly hit by a vehicle at an intersection in Tema, where he died instantly, while his colleague, Daniel Adua, passed away a week later.
Ms. Kpodovia, a 34-year-old widow who at the time of the incident had a four-month-old daughter, Diamond Dzidula Aniklo, had struggled to cope since then.
Traditionally, as a widow, she said she had been restricted from work until she had completed her widowhood rites to formally bring her relationship with her husband to an end, but said unfortunately, she had not been able to raise funds to complete the rites, and so she currently relied on public support for survival.
She said she had stopped working when she got pregnant because her husband had realised that her job as a trader and the stress of the pregnancy had taken a toll on her health.
The widow recalled that, much as the news of the loss was devastating to her, those who broke the news had done so with much sensitivity, hence mitigating the pain. However, she said the situation worsened subsequently with the emergence of videos and pictures from the crash, which destabilised her emotionally.
The mother of one said she battled mental health issues and also struggled financially to cope, despite NDC’s occasional support for she and her child.
She said she had two wishes, which were to be able to raise funds to complete her widowhood rites so that she could go back to work, and she also appealed to any public-spirited person to fulfill Christopher’s promise of setting up a business for her to enable her to become financially stable to see her daughter through school.
As Ms. Kpodovia battles her new reality, she called for caution among political party members as they engage in active political activities to bring road crashes to its barest minimum as activities intensified towards the election on December 7.
She also emphasised sensitivity when sharing road crash videos and pictures as that aggravated the pain of the bereaved families and aside that could offend the sensibilities of some members of the public.
In another incident, Esenam Ama Dzatse (not her real name), a devoted 40-year-old supporter of a political party, endured a harrowing experience on December 7, 2020, when she decided to blow the whistle about alleged plans by a group of people to snatch a ballot box, which she envisaged could compromise the fairness of the elections.
“They told me they would teach me a bitter lesson for exposing them,” Esenam recalled. “Sensing danger, I hopped on a motorbike as a pillion but fell off while the rider was avoiding a child on the road around the Tema Community Center. The crash left me with a deep cut on my left leg,” she said.
The political party supporter said she spent over Ghc5000 on treatment with no financial support from any group or individual and disclosed that at a point when she could not afford her hospital bills she had to resort to self-medication for about four months as she stayed at home.
She recounted that, as difficult as the situation was, with payment of bills staring her in the face, she had to sometimes endure pains from the injury and limp to the market to enable ends to meet until she fully recovered after about six months.
Ms. Dzatse said despite the challenges, her determination shone through, and her scars proudly served as a testament to her commitment to democracy and her vital role in protecting the electoral process of her country.
Meanwhile, the Acting Technical Director at the Mental Health Authority, Dr. Nana Yaa Adobea Brown, has highlighted the need for professional support, which gives bereaved families of road crashes coping skills.
“They really need such psychological interventions because the death was sudden and tragic. The circumstances surrounding the death, in the case of Georgina, her husband, who left home for work, said bye to her and his child and never came back. That is very tragic. This is super untimely, and so she and others in her situation need psychological support to be able to process the loss and even be able to deal with it.”
She observed that it was commendable that culturally such devastating news was broken with caution, which alleviated the pain of the bereaved families.
She however stated that, if that was not well done, it had the potential to cause more harm than good to the bereaved because there was the risk of prolonging the after effect which could affect their lives negatively.
“If you are in such a situation where you know you are not coping well after the loss of a loved one through a road crash or any other tragedy, seek help,” she said and discouraged people seen asking for help as a sign of weakness.
Dr. Brown said for persons who had experienced road crashes, it was important that health personnel do not only focus on their physical healing of fixing broken bones or injuries but also their mental health.
“If even they do not lose a part of their bodies, it is good that interventions are put in place to help such people. I have been involved in a road crash, and anytime I got to that area, I felt traumatised, so I know what I am talking about,” she disclosed.
She said seeking professional help to deal with their mental health was also necessary, especially in cases where lives were lost, because such coping mechanisms helped them overcome that.
The Acting Technical Director advised that all road users should make sure that their motorbikes and vehicles are frequently serviced to be roadworthy to ensure their safety and that of other road users.
“No speeding, wear your seat belts and crash helmets, and respect all road regulations,” she advised.
The Member of Parliament for the Tema East Constituency for the NDC, Isaac Ashai Odamtten, described the loss of Aniklo as a heavy blow to the party because he was selfless and always wanted every work done to perfection.
In a tribute, he said he was an inspiration through his leadership and had wisdom and unyielding spirit, which had been a massive contribution to the party and produced an immeasurable result.
He said the party had made road safety a priority by frequently highlighting the need for prioritising their lives as they tried to make their contributions to move the party forward because every loss to road crash was one too many.
The Tema East Deputy Constituency Communications Officer, Henry OKoe Oninku, described the tragedy of Daniel Adua and Christopher Senanu Aniklo as unfortunate, especially as they left behind young families.
“Even after a year, I still get emotional anytime I talk about these comrades who died in the line of duty. Whenever I see their wives, I feel worse. I saw Aniklo’s wife even while coming for this interview, and I know anytime she sees us engaged in political activities, she would feel sad because he would have been with us,” he lamented.
He said even though the party did well to give them befitting burials and support their families from time to time, they were optimistic that when the party regained power they would be well compensated for their loss.
According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety by the World Health Organisation 2023, in Ghana, an average of 2000 road traffic deaths are recorded annually.
Nearly 60% of all crash victims fall within the productive age bracket of 18-55 years and obviously pose a threat to national development.
The economic impact of toad traffic crashes is estimated to cost between 3.5% of Ghana’s GDP.
Some key factors noted to be contributing to these increases in crashes, injuries, and deaths in the country include increased vehicular movement, excessive speeding, reckless driving/riding, inattentive driving, rider/driver fatigue, driving/riding under the influence (alcohol/drugs), and limuted enforcement of road traffic regulations.
