Category: Medical

KGL Foundation and Moving Health, both non-governmental organisations have launched and deployed three tricycle ambulances in the Wa East District.

The ambulances which were built locally by Ghanaian Technicians and artisans are designed to serve as emergency vehicles that would convey the sick from communities near Jayiri, Bulenga, and Kundugu communities in the Wa East District.

The ambulances have been designed to withstand the rough and deplorable road networks in the Upper West Region.

They are also equipped with basic health equipment including a stretcher, medical storage facility to store basic medication, a fan and foldable stool which the health provider would sit on, Statement copied to the GNA has said.

Speaking at the launch at Funsi, Mr Isaac Quansah, Country Director of Moving Health explained why Wa East was chosen to receive the ambulances.

Mr Quansah said ‘Wa East is one of Ghana’s poorest and deprived districts lacking among several things including a hospital to cater for the needs of the people in the district.

Moving Health’s decision to donate the tricycle ambulances was influenced by the stress of long-distance travel made by especially pregnant women.’

Mr Quansah noted that Moving Health is a team of engineers, social workers and health workers who collaborate to design and operate safe and affordable emergency transport for rural communities.

He said KGL Foundation was the first Ghanaian organisation to support Moving Health in building tricycle ambulances.

Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services commended Moving Health and KGL Foundation for the initiative that seeks to improve access to quality and affordable health care.

He said the Ghana Health Service was elated that the private sector continued to contribute to national efforts in achieving health targets under Sustainable Development Goal 3.

He said, ‘Initiatives of this kind would help reduce among other things maternal mortality in the district.’

Dr Punguyire appealed to KGL Foundation to commit more resources to support the designing and fabrication of more tricycle ambulances for other deprived communities in the Upper West Region.

Nii Ankonu Annorbah-Sarpei, Programmes Manager, KGL Foundation said the foundation was committed to empowering communities to change lives.

Nii Annorbah-Sarpei said the partnership between KGL Foundation and Moving Health was a ‘cherished one’ and same seeks to reflect the foundation’s commitment to Ghanaians in finding solutions to challenges facing Ghana’s health sector.

According to him, health remain one of the thematic areas of the foundation adding, the foundation will continue to invest its resources to complement government efforts and ensure the realisation and achievement of the SDGs.

KGL Foundation is a corporate social responsibility arm set up on behalf of KGL Group.

The foundation focuses on youth empowerment and entrepreneurship, arts and culture, health and sports.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A Chinese medical team has provided free medical care for 300 people who are working in the Dukem Industrial Zone in Ethiopia.

The Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia organized the provision of medical services where more than 30 doctors and medical professionals treated the 300 workers.

The medical team has provided medical services including surgery, neurology, dentistry, gynecology, internal diagnosis and other medical treatments.

Further medical examination and follow up will be carried out to the beneficiaries at the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital in Addis Ababa.

The Chinese medical team has been providing similar medical services to Ethiopians in different hospitals including various orphanage centers.

The Dukem Industrial Zone, located about 35 Kilometers South East of the capital city, is where Ethiopia started industrial parks development and Chinese investors are highly engaged in the industrial parks.

Since 1974, China has been sending medical teams to contribute to the health sector in Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The remains of Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, a former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was laid to rest on Friday in his home town at Itaja-Obuohia , Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia.

Ogbulafor died after a brief illness in Canada, on Oct. 6, 2022, at the age of 73.

At the funeral service, Gov. Alex Otti of Abia said that the deceased Ogbulafor lived a good life and left legacies behind.

Otti described himself as one of the legacies of the late Ogbulafor, adding that the deceased introduced him into politics.

The governor said the history of his political journey would not be complete without the role played by the deceased.

He said that the deceased fought a good fight, adding that it was left for the living to move forward.

Otti said it was unfortunate that Ogbulafor died when everybody thought he was recovering.

He urged the members of the Ogbulafor family, especially the wife and aged mother to take heart and prayed God to grant the soul of the deceased a peaceful rest.

In his homily, Dr Lucius Ugorji, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, said that death awakens the living to their fragility as humans.

“We never know what will happen the next minute.

“We live in a country where the many threats to life such as hunger, poverty, insecurity, sickness among others have reduced the life expectancy to 53.

“This shows that life is so fragile so let us seek things above where true and lasting things exist.

“All that we are chasing here such as wealth, fame power are vanity; therefore let us store treasures above with good deeds,” Ugorji said.

He said that the late Ogbulafor had contributed immensely to his family and the wider society and prayed God to grant all concerned the fortitude to bear the loss

In a tribute, the first son of the deceased, Mr Uchenna Ezeogbulafor said their father was a good family man and a man of integrity and candour.

He appreciated the Governor for the relationship that existed between him and their father and for coming to identify with them and prayed God to bless all.

The funeral was attended by Sen. Darlington Nwokocha(Abia Central), Prof. Placid Njoku, Deputy Governor of Imo and Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, former governor of Enugu State.

Also in attendance were retired Col. Paul Omeruo, former Military Administrator of Kogi, retired Col. Austin Akobundu, former Minister of State for Defence, among other dignitaries.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Ethiopia and Russia have signed agreement which enables the countries to jointly establish a biological research center.

Innovation and Technology Minister Belete Mola and Russia’s Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov signed the agreement today.

Russian researchers had been conducting biological related researches over the past 35 years in Ethiopia.

This agreement will help to expand the scope of those researches and make them institutional so as to enable Ethiopia reap the benefits it deserves from the sector, Innovation and Technology Minister Belete Mola said.

The center is expected to enhance the transfer of knowledge and technologies in the sector when it becomes operational, it was indicated.

The agreement was made following deliberations carried out between the officials and experts of the two countries.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has called on stakeholders in the North East Region to create a conducive environment to attract health professionals to accept postings to the area.

The region lacks critical health staff, especially medical doctors, and stakeholders had over the years appealed for more staff to manage its health facilities.

The DG said, ‘You must create the necessary environment that allows me to send as many health workers as possible to this Region.

‘I have already talked to the Regional Minister that we need to get the right environment for us to get all the full sections of the health service to ensure that healthcare is appropriate,’ he said.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said this at the launch of the second phase of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Community-based Health Planning and Services+ (CHPS+) project in Nalerigu the North East region.

He noted that without the needed manpower, the Region would struggle to take advantage of the five-year US$12million KOICA CHPS+ project.

‘As a Service, we remain committed to ensure a smooth implementation of project activities and align with new initiatives such as the Network of Practices (NoP), which will strengthen the health centres and other healthcare facilities within the sub-district and improve coordination and service delivery,’ the DG said.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said as part of the NoP, the Service would identify health centres and upgrade them to model health centres that would run 24/7 so that the communities would always have access to all services.

He said that was one of the new initiatives added to the Phase II KOICA CHPS+ project, and called for collaboration from stakeholders, including Chiefs, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

When the Ghana News Agency contacted Mr Zakaria Yidana, the Regional Minister, on measures to support health staff posted to the locality, he said even though the respective Municipal and District Assemblies were willing to support this key workforce, they were hindered by lack of financial resources.

He said the Assemblies were, however, willing to support medical doctors, but lacked the financial resources.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), an Israeli-based NGO signed today Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Addis Ababa University(AAU) —Black Lion Hospital to provide lifesaving medical care to children suffering from heart defects.

The Memorandum of Understanding would help to save dozens of children suffering from heart defects while sharing medical skills and knowledge with the medical team in Ethiopia.

Save a Child’s Heart was founded in 1996 and since then, the NGO has treated more than 850 children from Ethiopia, it was indicated.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Aleligne Admasu said that his country will continue to strengthen the ongoing activities with Ethiopia in the sphere of health.

Noting that Ethiopia and Israel have a multifaceted relationship in the areas of social, economic and political fields, the ambassador said the two countries’ long-standing relationship will be further strengthened.

Ambassador Aleligne pointed out that the work of training Ethiopian experts and empowering professionals has been carried out especially in the health sector.

Mentioning that support is being given to prevent children from dying of heart disease in particular, the ambassador indicated that patients were sent to Israel for treatment.

He also pledged to save the lives of children suffering from heart disease and to bring them back to good health.

Dr. Andualem Deneke, Chief Executive Director at College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University recalled that the university has been working with Israeli doctors in the area of heart surgery.

The trilateral Memorandum of Understanding is vital to the experts of the Black Lion Specialized Hospital and will help them to receive better training in cardiology and heart surgery.

With the help of the signed agreement, 20 children with heart defects will be treated in Israel every year, Simon Fisher, Executive Director of Save Children’s Heart said..

Executive director added that in addition to the treatment for the children, training will be given to professionals working in the field.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Bolgatanga, Whenever Ms Aloriba Adatukey, a 36-year-old woman from Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region is not feeling well, she practises self-medication rather than visiting the healthcare facility.

The case

‘One time, I had abdominal pains and my menses were not flowing regularly, so, I visited the hospital but no one could understand me because I am deaf and I did not know whom to consult and explain for the person to understand’.

Ms Adatukey who revealed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview through a Sign Language Interpreter in Navrongo is a hearing/speech-impaired person who can neither read nor write.

She continued ‘so, I always rely on my colleagues who are also hearing impaired whenever I am sick who will usually give me the cover of some medicines and I will take it to the pharmacy to buy the drugs and because the pharmacy attendants do not also understand sign language, they will just sell the drugs to me without asking any question’.

Sign Language

The reason Ms Adatukey stopped visiting the healthcare facility for treatment is because the healthcare facility in her area does not have a Sign Language Interpreter and the health workers cannot understand or communicate effectively with her.

She explained that sometimes the self-medication helped to ease the pains but many times, the practice did not help and could even worsen her plight.

‘One day, it became critical and I visited the hospital with my friend who could read and write so she texted her friend who is a Sign Language Teacher at one Senior High School, who came and explained to the nurses to understand and they were able to treat me well,’ she said.

The ordeal of Ms Adatukey is not different from what many hearing/speech-impaired persons are going through in their efforts to access certain services especially policies and healthcare which is critical to the survival of every person.

Ms Ida Dambayi, a 27-year-old hearing/speech impaired young lady, explained that she visited the hospital a number of times but anytime she writes the health workers will not understand.

‘One day I visited the hospital because my menses were not stopping after about 10 days but they could not understand what I wrote on a sheet of paper for them until my friend who is an interpreter came and explained to them,’ she said.

Statistics

Currently, more than 1.5 billion people globally, representing nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population are affected by hearing loss in at least one ear with 430 million, representing over 5 per cent of the world’s population, requiring rehabilitation

According to the World Health Organisation, 80 per cent of the figure was found in developing countries while it is estimated that over 700 million will have disabling hearing loss by 2050 globally.

Statistics from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, revealed that nearly half a million (470,737) people in Ghana had some degree of hearing impairments.

Many of this category of people are unable to access services particularly government policies and healthcare services for the reason that there are no Sign Language Interpreters at these institutions particularly healthcare facilities.

Hospitals without Sign Language interpreters

Most public institutions particularly healthcare facilities in Ghana do not have sign language interpreters and the situation is hampering healthcare delivery especially for persons with hearing impairments.

Checks by GNA have revealed almost all public healthcare facilities in the Upper East Region including the Regional Hospital do not have sign language interpreters and most of the health workers did not have any training on sign language interpretation.

Dr Samuel Aborah, the Clinical Coordinator at the Upper East Regional Hospital noted that the hospital did not have sign language interpreters and the healthcare workers were not trained on it, so the personnel had a hard time understanding hearing impaired persons who visited the hospital for medical attention.

He said it was easier to communicate with only those who visited the hospital with their relatives but it was however difficult to communicate with those who visited the hospital alone, adding that ‘if the person can read and write, then we write but those who are not literate, we try in any way that can lead to understanding’.

The Clinical Coordinator therefore called for the introduction of sign language into the curricula of medical education to ensure that medical doctors trained had the ability to communicate using the sign language to help improve healthcare delivery for the hearing impaired.

Disability Act

The Ghana Disability Act of 2006, Act 715, stipulates that health care and medical treatment must be made accessible to all Ghanaians living with any form of disability while the Ministry of Health include the study of disability and disability related issues in the curricula of health training institutions in the country to develop human resource base that would provide quality health care for all.

In 2019, the government directed the Ministry of Health to collaborate with the Ghana Education Service, Ghana National Council of Disability and Ghana National Association for the Deaf to recruit Sign Language Interpreters at various health facilities across the country.

Mr Sumani Bapio Ibrahim, a Hearing Impaired, and Disability Right and Youth advocate, said little had been done to address issues of lack of sign language interpreters at the health facilities and the situation continued to deny persons with hearing impairments quality health care.

Mr Mark Akubire, the Upper East Regional President of Ghana Federation of Persons with Disability, explained that lack of sign language interpreters in government institutions was denying many of their members access to quality services.

‘Apart from the hospitals, there are government institutions such as the courts, social welfare departments and other institutions that do not have sign language interpreters and that demotivates the hearing impaired from seeking services from those institutions.

‘There are many sign language interpreting graduates who are unemployed, the government needs to engage them at the health facilities because the Disability Act which is policy calls for inclusiveness but persons with hearing impairment continued to be denied the needed services because of communication barrier,’ he said.

Efforts

In an interview with the GNA, Mr Sebil William, the Principal of Nursing Training College, Bolgatanga, explained that for about five years all the health training institutions in the country had been running French and Sign Language as courses to equip nurses and other health workers with the knowledge to communicate with all persons.

However, he noted, the Sign Language course in particular was being taught for only one semester (last semester of the final year) which did not give the students ample time to learn it in detail.

‘For us here (Nursing Training College, Bolgatanga), although we are supposed to teach it at the last semester that the students will spend in school, we usually start in the second year (level 200) so that the students will be able to understand it better,’ he said.

He regretted that many people with disabilities especially the hearing/speech impaired had to go through difficulties in accessing health services, adding ‘we are one and we need to create that environment for all to thrive and access all services including healthcare’.

SDGs and Universal Health Coverage

It is left with barely seven years to the deadline for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Ghana’s agenda of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) which emphasized stringent actions to ensure that all persons had access to quality and equitable healthcare delivery.

Ghana is at risk of losing out on achieving any of the 17 SDGs goals by 2030 if the healthcare system is not made disability friendly especially for the persons with hearing impairments.

It is refreshing that all health training institutions had started running the Sign Language as a course, however, dedicating only one semester to such an important aspect of healthcare system is woefully inadequate.

Recommendations

It would therefore be prudent for all health training institutions including medical schools to run sign language as a course from the first year to the last year and make compulsories for all students to learn.

It would not also be out of place if government in consultation with the appropriate authorities introduces sign language to the whole educational system to be taught at all levels of education in Ghana or at least from the second cycle institutions to tertiary.

This would ensure that many families and communities and workers in the informal sector understood sign language and could communicate effectively with their relatives and community members with hearing issues while government employ the graduates in service providing institutions such as the Assembly and courts among others.

Conclusion

While waiting for long term solutions to this phenomenon, it would be appropriate for government to ensure that all health facilities had stationed Sign Language Interpreters even if they did not have health training background to support the health workers to communicate effectively with persons with hearing impairments.

This would not only bridge communication barrier in health service delivery, fulfill the implementation of the Disability Act but would help the country achieve the Universal Health Coverage and the SDGs particularly goals three.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association has called on stakeholders in health to secure the future of healthcare by investing in its members.

Mr Courage A.Y.F Kwame-Kumah, the Volta Regional Secretary who made the call, outlined four key areas of investment – education and training, jobs, leadership, and service delivery, which he described as ‘the global strategic direction for nursing.’

Delivering the keynote address at a ceremony to mark this year’s Nurses and Midwives Week celebration at Aflao, Ketu South themed, ‘Our Nurses and Midwives, Our Future,’ he said these areas were critical to build a strong nursing workforce that was positioned to meet the evolving healthcare needs of society.

‘We play an essential role in promoting health, preventing illnesses, and caring for patients. As we look towards the future, nurses and midwives will continue to lead the way and drive change within healthcare. We must be given the tools and resources necessary to succeed and the healthcare system must continue to invest in the future of nursing.’

Mr Kwame-Kumah underscored the importance of nurses and midwives and urged that the theme, ‘Our Nurses and Midwives, Our Future’ must not just be a slogan but ‘a philosophy that must be embraced and implemented to ensure the future of healthcare is secured.’

‘For any country, the healthcare system is critical in ensuring the health and survival of every citizen. It is for this reason that health is considered the centre of the economy.

‘One of the essential parts of the healthcare system is the nurses and midwives. The nursing profession is not just the backbone, but the lifeline of the healthcare industry, even most importantly in Ghana.’

Madam Perfect Titiati, Ho Municipal Director of Health Services described the theme for the celebration as apt saying, nursing had evolved

from being non-specific to a highly skilled one and remained ‘the last straw to either send a patient home or the grave.’

She called on the government to pay attention to the needs of nurses and midwives to prevent their migration abroad for greener pastures as the brain drain could pose a great threat to healthcare.

Dr. Makafui Alphones Dzakpasu, Medical Superintendent, Ketu South Municipal Hospital recognised the role of nurses and midwives in healthcare delivery and challenged them to get ready for the future which he said, ‘is not far away, it’s just the next second or minute.’

Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie, Member of Parliament, Ketu South through her representative, Mr Bright Dzila celebrated nurses and midwives for their tenacity to serve others and pledged to continue to offer her support while urging them to do their best for patients who would come to them for care.

Source: Ghana News Agency