Twenty-six-year-old Irene Nartey, a beneficiary of Vodafone’s Homecoming, has expressed appreciation to the telecommunications company for coming to her aid last year.

Homecoming is a Vodafone initiative, which settles the medical bills of insolvent patients in hospitals across the country, In Ghana, access to basic healthcare remains a luxury for quite a sizeable number of the population. Across major public hospitals in Ghana, patients continue to stay on after being discharged due to their inability to pay their bills.

Irene is one of the hundreds of Ghanaians who have benefitted from Homecoming. After spending weeks at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Vodafone, through its Foundation, settled her medical bills and gave her a stipend, which she used to start a kelewele business in Accra.

Recounting her experience, an elated Irene said: “I’m very excited about what Vodafone Ghana has done for me and my family. They have been supportive. Besides paying my medical bill, they gave me some money, which I used as capital to start my own business. I feel indebted to the Vodafone Foundation, especially because they came to my aid when I needed it the most.’’

Commenting on the initiative, Ebenezer Amankwah, Head of Corporate Relations reiterated Vodafone Ghana’s commitment to Ghanaians.

 ‘’We introduced Homecoming to bring some relief to patients who are unable to afford their hospital bills. At Vodafone, we believe everyone should have access to quality healthcare and cost should not deprive anyone of this necessity. The initiative, which is in line with our commitment to give ‘freedom’ to Ghanaians, takes place every 6th March as Ghana celebrates its Independence Anniversary.

The annual Homecoming initiative has since its inception in 2011, settled bills of hundreds of patients of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and thousands of patients in other health institutions across the country who were still defaulters to medical bills.

Homecoming is organised annually and Vodafone Ghana employees and Senior Management, in the various regions, visit and interact with beneficiaries at the various hospitals before they are discharged.