Category: Medical

Mama Attrato II, Queen Mother of Ho-Dome in the Volta Region, has donated some items to the Accident and Emergency Ward of the Ho Teaching Hospital. The donation, which included packs of soft drinks and bottled water, was a way to thank the doctors and nurses at the ward for their dedication to saving lives. Mama Attrato told Ghana News Agency during the donation, that, the ward's doctors and nurses played a crucial role in saving the lives of accident victims and other emergency patients. She Noted that showing gratitude for their work was essential to inspiring them to keep giving their all in providing the public with high-quality healthcare services. The medical professionals expressed their gratitude to the Queen Mother for acknowledging their efforts and providing support. They promised to keep discharging their duties as effectively as possible to save lives. Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is working to stop illegal payments, popularly known as 'copayment', charged to clients with the Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at some health facilities.? The conduct by some health service providers, as alleged by clients, in charging for services covered by the NHIS deemed as co-payment was illegal, and the scheme has issued warning letters to some of them while working closely with stakeholders to abort the practice. 'Some of our members have expressed concern that they still pay for some services covered by the NHIS,' says Mr Mohammed Awudu, the District Director of the NHIA in charge of Talensi and Nabdam, Upper East Region. '…And we are working to stop those illegal payments that are happening at some of the hospitals because it is affecting our members.' 'The agreement we have with the service providers is that under the benefit package, they should give us 100 per cent of the services that we have agreed with them, and under no circumstances should they cha rge for any services we have contracted with them'. Mr Awudu revealed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a data validation forum of research conducted by the Rural Initiative for Self-Empowerment Ghana in the Nabdam and Talensi districts.? The research was to assess the utilisation of NHIS by pregnant women for Antenatal Care (ANC) services in the two districts. Among the findings were that 17.3 per cent of pregnant women at Nabdam and 38.0 per cent at Talensi expressed concern over co-payments. Also, 18.7 per cent in Nabdam and 5.3 per cent in Talensi were said to have limited knowledge of the NHIS policy coverage. It revealed that 51.3 per cent of pregnant women in Nabdam and 33.3 per cent in Talensi were faced with the challenge of limited medicines using NHIS for antenatal care services. More than half of the respondents (68.80%) were generally satisfied with services under the Scheme at Nabdam while 50 per cent at Talensi expressed satisfaction with accessing ANC se rvices under the Scheme. Mr Awudu said: 'With regards to the limited knowledge on the NHIS policy coverage, what actually happens is that when we go to the community we carry out a holistic sensitisation and we don't target only the pregnant women.' 'What we do is that we sensitise the service providers, the midwives and the nurses who then educate the pregnant women during their ANC.' He reiterated the Authority's efforts at addressing the concerns and called on Ghanaians whose NHIS were inactive to renew while urging those yet to register to do so in order to enjoy the benefits. Source: Ghana News Agency

Mama Atrato II, Queenmother of Ho Dome in the Volta Region, has called on the Government to acquire more dialysis machines for the country to cater for the many kidney diseases being recorded at the various hospitals. She said the Government should also consider banning excessive alcohol intake among the populace to reduce the prevalence of the disease. The kidneys filter harmful substances from the blood, one of which is alcohol. Alcohol can cause changes in the functioning of the kidneys and make them less able to filter the blood. Mama Atrato said the present burden of kidney related diseases required more enhanced effort by the government, particularly in the improvement of health facilities and the regulation of alcohol consumption. She made the call during a stakeholder engagement by STAR Ghana to collect inputs for political party manifestos, where she raised the alarm over the citizens' alcohol indulgence, and the lack of adequate infrastructure at the various health centres for kidney care. She said it was time for the Government and stakeholders to consider those challenges for redress, adding: 'I want to appeal to the government that if they will not bring in more dialysis machines, then they should ban the consumption of alcohol.' Mama Attrato was among traditional rulers drawn from the Eastern, Volta and Oti regions of the country participate in a series of engagements and activities to help collate the needs of the citizenry within the political administrations. Other participants were civil society and non-governmental organisations, and representatives of associations of persons living with disability, as well as labour, and women groups. The engagements covered health, education, and social issues with resource persons leading participants to better appreciate the situation within the various sectors. Madam Eunice Agbenyadi, the Head of Programmes, STAR Ghana, said views and ideas being collated were timely, as political parties were in the process of drafting their manifestos. 'Manifes tos have become a very major tool for development, and it is important that these voices are captured. We will present the issues to the manifesto drafting committees of the major parties,' she said. STAR Ghana hoped to engage the minor political parties also in a dialogue while tracking the manifesto promises of the various parties for implementation. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) has urged stakeholders and the health sector to Involve patients in advocacy organisations and local communities to empower them to make informed decisions and improve their health outcomes. Enhancing health literacy about healthy lifestyle choices, self-care, and promoting long-term adherence to treatment strategies brings about good health and wellness. In a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, the PSGH said kidney disease, including Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) and Kidney Failure in Ghana was common, which created an increased demand for Hemodialysis (HD), a major public health concern and discourse in recent times. It said Globally, patients struggle to access care and medication due to high costs and misinformation, impacting their health behaviours and adherence, adding, Kidney health needed to be given the needed attention by all. It urged all patients with kidney disease not to self-medicate or take any medication including over-the-counte r medicines without consulting their pharmacists. The statement urged the public not to take herbal medicines which were not approved or certified by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA). Patients with kidney disease are to stay away from herbal products without authorisation from a pharmacist or a medical doctor. The statement called on government, Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to institute policies that holistically integrate kidney care into existing health programmes, provide full payment for cost of dialysis and train more specialist and professionals in kidney health. It said the Electricity Company of Ghana must also ensure smooth electricity supply to enhance quality healthcare service. It advised healthcare professionals to provide the public with health education on kidney health. Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Daniel Opoku Gyamfi, Optometrist at Savanna Opticals, Tamale has expressed the need for people to monitor their eye pressure regularly to manage glaucoma. He said glaucoma existed in many individuals due to their genetic associations and it was important to do routine eye examinations to manage glaucoma to prevent blindness. Dr Gyamfi, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale, described glaucoma as an eye disease that caused progressive damage to the optic nerves of the eyes leading to blindness. He said the disease was characterised by high eye pressure, which could not be treated adding 'The only way out is regular examination and management of eye pressure to prevent further vision loss.' He reiterated that glaucoma could not be reversed irrespective of its advanced stage but could be managed to prevent loss of vision. Dr Gyamfi said detecting glaucoma at an early stage was vital in preventing vision loss and advised members of the public to go for regular eye checks and glaucoma scans. He said an eye examination in a year was a good routine as well as adherence to medical prescriptions. He said 'Even after glaucoma surgery, you still must monitor your eye pressure. There is no time you can be free from glaucoma once diagnosed.' Dr Gyamfi addressed some misconceptions associated with glaucoma pointing out that it was not treatable. He said glaucoma was not contagious as speculated but one could get it by virtue of their blood relation to someone with it. Source: Ghana News Agency