‘Stay away from self-medication, quack doctors’
The public has been advised to desist from practising self-medication and also steer clear of the services of quack doctors since engaging in such practices can endanger their health.
A retired midwife and the founder of “Hajia Damata Foundation,” Hajia Damata Sulemana, who gave the advice in Accra, said engaging the services of non-professionals could lead to wrong administration of drugs with its resultant effects of antibiotic resistance, skin problems, hypersensitivity and allergies adding that, it could also lead to death.
"Death is inevitable but in some cases it is avoidable. God has not created us to die young but due to our ignorance and insensitivity to good health cultures, we die prematurely,” she added.
Event
Hajia Damata was speaking to the Daily Graphic prior to the donation of nine, "dead body bathing platforms" worth GH₵ 12,000 for distribution to nine mosques within the Ayawaso North and East municipalities in the Greater Accra Region at a ceremony at Nima last Saturday.
Bathing of a dead body in the Islamic religion is referred to as "Ghusl Mayyit."
It is usually carried out on wooden structures, but according to Hajia Damata, "this method is unhygienic, stressful and undignifying to the departing soul.”
The platform is a metallic design crafted to make the exercise more hygienic and less stressful.
Motivation
According to Hajia Damata, she had endured painful moments of watching people struggle to bath dead bodies of relatives.
This, she explained, was the motivation behind the donation to ensure that, “no family goes through such experience again.
This is part of my Islamic responsibility to humankind and most especially, my community."
Commendation
The leader of the Imam Mosque at Mamobi, Kamal Deen Said, commended Hajia Damata Foundation for the gesture and said the facility would help the beneficiary communities perform the "Ghusl Mayyit" rites in a more dignifying manner.
The Assembly Man for the Kwaotsuru Electoral Area in Accra New Town, Prince Nuhu Salifu, said Hajia Damata, by the donation, had demonstrated her love and concern for the welfare of the people.
For his part, a community leader, Major (Retired) Abdulai Awudu, entreated the people to emulate the example of Hajia Damata. He also appealed to parents to ensure that they enrolled their children in school and for the youth to take their eduction seriously to enable them to make a positive impact on their lives and communities.