Category: Medical

Accra – Preparatory works on the Tampane district hospital have been completed and contractors are finalising mobilisation activities to the site for construction to begin, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Minister of Health, said in Parliament.

He said the project falls under the Agenda 111 project, which was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, at the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.

It aims at providing healthcare infrastructure to ensure Ghanaians in every part of the country had access to quality healthcare services.

The project includes 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals at the middle and northern belt, a regional hospital in the Western Region, and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital.

Mr Agyemang-Manu said this on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday when Ms Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, the Member of Parliament for Tempane, asked him when the construction of the district hospital would commence.

He said the Project Implementation Committee, being chaired by the Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, had secured sites and land titles for 88 out of the 101 district hospitals and each unit would cost US$17 million, covering 15 acres.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Enchi (WN/R),– Dr Emmanuel K. Coomson, the Medical Superintendent of the Enchi Government Hospital in the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region, has expressed concern over the obsolete equipment at the hospital and called for replacement to ensure effective healthcare delivery.

He mentioned the lack of space at the laboratory, coupled with inadequate equipment to run services like scans; vehicles, especially ambulances, and bad roads leading to the facility, as some of the challenges the hospital faced.

He said the bad roads, especially those leading to the town, deterred doctors and nurses from accepting postings to the area and called on the Government and benevolent organisations to assist to ensure quality healthcare delivery.

Dr Coomson said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when a delegation from the Aowin Traditional Council visited the hospital to discuss the needs of the facility.

He said the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service should ensure the doctors and nurses benefitted from the rural allowances offered health personnel who accepted postings to remote areas.

The facility, built in 1973, lacked the space to accommodate staff with only 36 out of the 396 staff, representing 11 per cent, were accommodated, making it not befitting of a district hospital, he said.

Dr Coomson said the hospital needed specialised doctors including dentists and appealed to the government to consider adding it the Agenda 111 initiative.

He, however, commended the government for creating the Western North Region, which had improved the nurse-patient ratio and general functions of the hospital.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Akim Manso (E/R),– About 1,623 food vendors and drinking bar operators in Asene Manso Akroso District have completed medical screening and issued with certificates to operate, Mr Robert Amewuda, District Officer of Environmental Health Unit, has said.

He said the Environmental Health Unit and MED ONE, a laboratory services agency in Akim Oda, conducted the screening for vendors, operating in areas like Mofram, Suponso, Akroso, Eshiem, Bantama, Atiankama – Nkwanta and Asene.

The screening involved body examination and blood test to ensure their safety under the required standards to carry out their trade.

They also received education on a clean and hygienic environment for food preparation and selling.

Mr Amewuda said, “All these precautionary measures being taken are needful because the possibility of transmitting disease from food vendors to consumers is high and could lead to an epidemic outbreak in the district.”

He called on the people to heed environmental and hygiene protocols to ensure healthy living.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra – There are no medicines for mental patients in all the three psychiatric hospitals in the country, Dr Akwesi Osei, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mental Health Authority (MHA) has told the Ghana News Agency.

Consequently, the hospitals—the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Ankaful and Pantang—are forced to source medicines from private pharmaceutical companies for mental health patients at a fee.

“Persons with mental illness in the streets are supposed to be taken out of the street and treated free of charge but we do not have the funding to do that…,” he said.

Dr Osei said the Authority was supposed to get about 28 million cedis worth of medicines every two years, but now, “all we get is 5 million cedis worth of medicines every two years.”

He said it had not received any funding from the government since the beginning of this year and that it was to be provided with GHC250,000 for the first quarter to run its operations.

“The MHA requires 7 million cedis to run its operations in a year while the three psychiatric hospitals require not less than GHC30 million…”

Dr Osei said the Accra Psychiatric Hospital owed its suppliers over 2 million cedis while Ankaful had been sent to court for its inability to pay debts.

He said the financial challenges had made it difficult for the country to fully implement its Mental Health Act 846 of 2012 after ten years of passage.

Parliament on March 2, 2012, passed the mental health act into a law to ensure the right and quality treatment of persons with mental disorders, and to stipulate changes to the organisation, provision, and funding of mental health services.

Dr Osei said the Act had not been fully implemented due to the government’s inability to establish a Mental Health Levy as mandated by the Law to provide adequate funding for all mental health issues.

“The government has not been able to establish a mental health levy for the past ten years, and due to the absence on the levy there is no funding to implement provisions in the Act as expected.”

Dr Osei said mental healthcare in Ghana could be free as provided in the Act only if the levy was in place or if the government provided adequate funding for mental health care services.

He said mental health was still challenged with stigma and discrimination because there was no funding for regular public engagement on mental illness.

“Discrimination of persons with mental illness persist because, due to lack of funding, we have not been able to establish the Mental Health Tribunal to seek redress for persons with mental illness whose rights have been abused,” Dr Osei added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Kpone– Ms. Kafui Odoom, the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Nutritionist, has appealed for increased support to save children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the area.

Organizations and individuals should help the nutrition unit of the Health Directorate to purchase plumpy nuts to save the malnourished children.

Making the call through the Ghana News Agency, she said the situation if allowed to remain as it was could fuel morbidity and mortality among children aged under five years in the municipality.

The nutrition unit urgently required the free supply of locally made plumpy nuts and other specialized food to manage the severely malnourished and underweight children.

According to Ms. Odoom said they had run out of supply of the plumpy nuts and micronutrient powders, used in managing SAM cases, and that was a cause for concern.

She spoke of how they had at times been using their own resources to buy the nuts from the Tema General Hospital for the severely malnourished children and said that was not a sustainable way of dealing the health problem.

She did not give figures but said the number of severe cases was on the high and it had kept increasing.

The unit would need at least 3,000 pieces of plumpy nuts and 50 boxes of micronutrient powders popularly known as ‘kokoplus’ to take care of the affected children.

Plumpy nut is a peanut-based ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) that contains sugar, vegetable fat and skimmed milk powder which is enriched with vitamins and minerals.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ashaiman— Mrs Georgina Coffie, a Nutritionist with the Tulaku Health Center in the Ashaiman Municipality, has said the use of ginger could be detrimental to persons with some health conditions.

Mrs Coffie said inasmuch as ginger had its benefits such as helping in weight loss, regulation of appetite and the reduction of the digestive enzyme in the stomach, its consumption by those with some health conditions such as third-trimester pregnancy could be negative.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Ashaiman, Mrs Coffie, who is also a General Nurse, explained that during the first trimester of pregnancy, ginger could help minimise morning sickness.

However, she said, it could lead to induce labour when taking in the third trimester.

She indicated that people with blood disorders such as haemophilia, which is a condition that stops blood from clotting, must desist from the usage of ginger as that also contributed to blood thinning.

She also said people with low weight must not eat ginger as it had weight losing components, which could have dire consequences for those suffering from low weight.

She said diabetic patients and those on high blood pressure medications should avoid ginger. Mrs Coffie advised all to be vigilant and diligent in using certain health products and always seek medical attention from qualified health professionals before patronizing them.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Appiatse Relief Camp (W/R)– The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed malaria as the leading cause of health reported cases at the Appiatse Relief Camp in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region.

According to officials at the health post in the Camp, the disease affected all ages but was common among children due to their weak immune system.

The facility has all health personnel to take care of all cases – midwives, nurses, child wellness, disease control officers and health promotion officers.

On Thursday, January 20, a truck carrying explosives from Maxam Ghana Limited, exploded killing at least 14 people in the Appiatse community.

Hundreds including children were displaced, while others were injured making the once vibrant Appiatse community a pale show of itself, a situation which birthed the Appiatse Relief Camp.

Maxam Ghana was asked, after the government’s investigations, to pay a total of US$6 million, including a US$1 million fine for regulatory breaches.

President Akufo-Addo has since directed that the additional US$5million be donated to the Appiatse Support Fund set up by the government to reconstruct the community.

The health officials, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, mentioned coughing, bodily pains and wounds dressing as other health challenges facing residents at the Camp and attributed them to the impact of the explosion and weather.

For the malaria cases, the health officials attributed it to residents’ refusal to sleep in treated mosquito nets due to heat in the tents.

Also, many have remained adamant to regular public education for them to observe good personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness.

That has resulted in stagnant waters which served as fertile grounds for breeding mosquitoes aside the spots of overgrown weeds around the camp.

“All residents here have refused to sleep in the treated mosquito nets, claiming it got in the nets and tents.

“They are many in the rooms so who should buy the mosquito spray is a problem and they claim they don’t have money to buy repellents,” the health officials lamented.

The health officials reiterated the need for the people to always sleep under treated insecticide mosquito nets to protect them from the disease.

Parents must ensure they take their children to the hospital for any suspected case rather than treat them at home and urged them to desist from staying out late.

They should encourage proper hand-washing, avoid over the counter medication, knowing that, “excess use of malaria drugs and the refusal by people to use the treated insecticide mosquito nets as some of the challenges hindering the fight against malaria in the country.

Some malaria patients cited their refusal to sleep under treated mosquito nets as main contributory factor.

Madam Ernestina Adobah, said: “Sleeping in the heat-filled tent is not easy, how much more the uneasiness with sleeping in the mosquito nets.

“We need more tents so we can check some of these things. How do you lay your net in a small room occupied by dozens with no sleeping place,” she noted.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Head of Marketing for Betika Ghana, Belo Cida Haruna used the opportunity to congratulate the winners and expressed the company’s delight in putting smiles on the faces of the winners in this time of love.

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Since their arrival on the local betting scene, Betika has attracted thousands of customers who have been wowed by their competitive big boosted odds and their professionalism displayed in the discharge of their duties.

In recent times, they have partnered Kumasi Asante Kotoko, arguably the biggest sports brand in Ghana with fans attesting to the level of professionalism and excellence they have exhibited in line with their work and their prompt payments to winners.

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Source: Ghana Web