Nii Okai in Hearts Campaign

By Forgive Adjoa Forfoe
In celebrating ten years of  his maiden hit album,Mokobe, worship leader,Nii Okai has began what he calls the Savings Hearts Project to raise support for needy heart patients across the country.

Nii Okai in a pose with the Deputy Minister of Health and a beneficiary,Master Godsway Egli

Nii Okai stated to Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday that in Ghana, it costs an estimated amount of about US$ 6,000 for a patient to undergo a successful heart surgery; an amount most households can barely afford. Ghana’s hospitals are filled with scores of patients in desperate need of help to undergo heart surgeries. Many have lost their lives due to their inability or that of their relatives to afford the huge costs required for successful heart operations.
“‘My maiden album Mokobe was ten years old in December 2013, and to celebrate this, the Lord laid on my heart to launch a campaign to help our brothers and sisters in need of assistance to undergo heart surgeries. There are several of such needy people in our hospitals and it’s disheartening sometimes to hear that some die because they couldn’t afford the cost of surgery. So we embarked on the project in collaboration with the Ghana Heart Foundation and we are still on. We have received enormous support from individuals, churches and corporate organizations towards this project and we are grateful to God lives are being saved,” said Nii Okai
.Through his organization, Nii Okai Ministries, the soft spoken gospel musician has been able to garner support for some of these patients. So far, two children have successfully undergone free heart surgeries at the National Cardiothoracic center.
In support of the Saving Hearts Project, students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology recently participated in a flashmob at the Jubilee Mall of the university in Kumasi. The students, drawn from various Christian groups and associations on campus, came together and organized a series of programmes to create awareness about the Project and raised funds among themselves to assist the nation’s needy cardio patients.
KNUST’s Mass drama, acclaimed to be one of the most creative groups in the country, entertained the students with some of their notable performances while medical students from the university took the opportunity to educate their peers on hole in heart and how to prevent heart diseases.

Nii Okai has committed proceeds from his latest album to the Saving Hearts Project. Both the audio and DVD versions of the album have been compressed on a specially designed flash drive cum wristband with the inscription “I am a heart saver."
“We have a target of supporting ten patients to undergo free heart surgeries. US$ 6,000 per patient is quite huge but I believe, as corporate bodies, churches and individuals come on board, we can be able to raise the monies needed. We have done three so far and we are certain, as God gives us grace, that we can meet our target and assist at least seven more people” he added.