Day: March 13, 2024

Dr Benjamin Kofi Angenu, Medical Director of the Forever Champion Health Centre, has called on the public to refrain from self-medication and seek proper medical care at health facilities. He noted that the situation where some people, due to poverty and economic hardships, resorted to self-medication was dangerous and detrimental to health. Dr Angenu made the call at the beginning of a one-month free medical screening at Adenta in Accra on Wednesday, as part of the commissioning of the centre. He said plans were far advanced for the centre to expand its services to other regions and then to other countries to bring medical care to the doorsteps of many people. 'We have come to stay, and we will make sure we provide quality, and affordable healthcare for all Ghanaians to complement government's efforts of providing quality healthcare for all people,' he said. Dr Angenu appealed to the Government to support indigenous firms to enable them to expand their businesses. Indigenous businesses provide jobs, go ods and services to their communities thereby helping to solve the unemployment situation, which had bedeviled the country,' Dr Angenu added. He advised on frequent exercises and the consumption of more fruits and vegetables. It is anticipated that over 5,000 people within the Adenta municipality are to benefit from the month-long screening exercise. Source: Ghana News Agency

Trends of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Accra is fast increasing with cardiovascular diseases being the leading cause of death among the middle aged in the City. Dr Abena Okoh, Metropolitan Director of Health Service, said the high numbers of NCDs; hypertension, stroke cancers and diabetes, were contributing to the numerous 'Gone too soon' and 'What a Shock' funeral posters of persons 40 years and below seen in the streets of Accra. She said urbanisation, unhealthy lifestyle such high intake of salt, sugar, high intake of saturated and trans-fat, smoking, harmful use of alcohol and physical inactivity are causes for national concern. She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview during the Partnership for Healthy City (PHC) Summit in Cape Town that diabetes diagnoses, which used to be low was now part of the top ten Out Patient Department (OPD) diagnoses in health facilities in Accra. 'You will realise that at first when you visit the wards, people on admissions due to hypertension, stroke an d diabetes were gray haired men and women, but now you get to see young people between the ages of 30 to 45 on admission for NCDs,' she said. In Accra, data from the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS) indicate that top ten Out Patient Department (OPD) diagnoses in Accra from one to 10 over the last three years, 2021 to 2023 are Upper Respiratory Tract Infections, Malaria, Acute Urinary Tract Infection. The rest are Hypertension, Anemia, Rheumatism or other joint pains, Diarrhoea Diseases, Typhoid Fever, Skin Diseases and Pregnancy Complications. Dr Okoh said hypertension was the fifth cause of illness and deaths in Accra; from 2021 to 2023, a total 38,826 hypertension cases were recorded in health facilities in Accra, 12,451 in 2021, 12,671 in 2022 and 13,704 in 2023. She said Accra was a city with about two million transit population on a daily basis, with a lot of air pollution and low physical activities. She said the Metropolitan Health Directorate in its bid to control the high nu mbers of NCD had started running mobile wellness clinics. 'The mobile clinics move into communities like James town, Chorkor, T gardens, Kaneshie and markets in the city to screen people and offer free education on NCDs and counseling on how to live healthy,' she said. Dr Okoh said during the wellness clinics about 50 people were screen for blood pressure and sugar, body weight, height per session and those who needed specific care were linked to health facilities. Patients at the Out Patient Department, in hospitals in the City, are also educated on NCDs during routine visits. She said the Directorate was partnering with the Education Directorate to ensure that school children took a healthy meal or fruit to school under its one healthy snack a day initiative within the next quarter. She called on partners to support the City's effort to control the high numbers of NCDs in the country. Dr Okoh thanked the Partnership for Healthy Cities Network for its support to the City on road safety over the last ei ght years and called for more assistance to create awareness and reduce NCDs in Accra. Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. Many deaths from NCDs are preventable, if communities and policymakers implement the right policies and strategies. The World Health Organisation recommends an effective communication and outreach on NCDs, including a dialogue that connects with people's own experiences on NCDs. Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Mercy Borkaifio Bortey, a 71-year-old Principal Midwifery Officer at the Bengali Hospital in Tema, has advised midwives to see the profession as a calling and be dedicated to helping pregnant women to deliver safely. Madam Bortey, also a scrub or theatre nurse, said when seen as a calling and with commitment to duty, midwives would help to reduce maternal mortality. She said although some patients in labour could sometimes be difficult to handle, it was important for the midwives to build endurance and compassion for the job and ask God for strength and guidance. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Madam Bortey advised pregnant women to strictly follow the instructions of their midwives (during the term of pregnancy, labour, and post-partum) as they had been trained to ensure the protection of the mother and baby through the stages of childbirth. She advised pregnant women to take their antenatal classes seriously, saying: 'Though it is good to pray, it must be done alongside orthodox treatment and care for the safety of both the mother and baby.' She urged men to also take interest in the antenatal care of their expectant mothers to serve as their support base. Prior to enrolling as a midwife, Madam Bortey said she had worked as a general nurse at the Tema General Hospital for about 20 years before gaining admission to the Koforidua Midwifery Training School and completed in 1992. She said during her practicals at the Hospital as a nurse, she had the opportunity to work in all the departments, during which she developed the love for scrubbing. A scrub nurse handles sterile equipment while assisting a surgeon during a surgical operation. Madam Bortey said she had helped deliver more than 350 babies and was still dedicated to delivering more until her last breath. 'I am an all-round woman; I like the work, and I enjoy seeing people deliver safely. I will do it till my last breath,' she said with a smile. Touching on some challenges midwives face, she said it was distressing to prepar e a patient for a caesarean section, and the doctor might not be immediately ready to attend to the patient. Madam Bortey expressed worry over the refusal of some pregnant women to consent to a Caesarean section, mostly because 'their pastors had prophesied that they will have spontaneous vaginal delivery.' She urged pastors to encourage women to heed to doctors' advice for caesarean section, especially when there were complications, and their anatomy could not support self-delivery. Source: Ghana News Agency