ENSURE REGUALR MEDICAL CHECK-UP (PAGE 39)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Savelugu

THE Savelugu/Nanton District Director of Health Services, Dr Kofi Issah, has urged employers to ensure a regular check-up of the health conditions of their employees to guarantee a strong workforce for increased productivity.
‘‘It is important that the health of employees is taken seriously because it is better to prevent their health from deteriorating than attending their funerals,’’ he stated.
The director advised Ghanaians to live healthy lifestyles by consuming balanced diets and embarking on regular exercises, stressing that ‘‘a healthy mind is found in a healthy body”.
Dr Issah, who was speaking at the annual district health performance review at Savelugu, also expressed concern over the frequent holding of workshops and seminars in various parts of the country for health practitioners.
He observed that even though such training programmes were necessary in improving participants’ knowledge, their regularity and uncoordinated nature were affecting effective health delivery service at most hospitals and clinics particularly in rural communities where there were few health personnel.
‘‘At a particular time and for almost two weeks, I did not step foot at the hospital because I had to attend a number of workshops that occurred at very short intervals,’’ Dr Issah intimated.
The director, therefore, called for effective collaboration and streamlining of workshops among organisers and other stakeholders to ensure uninterrupted work schedules of participants.
Touching on the guinea worm situation in the district, which has the highest incidence of the disease in the country, Dr Issah said his outfit had chalked up some successes in its reduction over the past year.
For instance, the district recorded 666 cases in January 2007 but this has since reduced to only 27 cases in January this year.
While the disease is predominant in the Savelugu township, 49 out of the 136 communities in the district reported guinea worm, with children between five and 14 years constituting 60 per cent of all cases.
Dr Issah attributed the downward trend of the disease in the area to include the various sensitisation programmes carried out over the years such as drama, the enactment of by-laws and radio talk shows and advertisements on the dangers and preventive methods.
He, however, expressed concern about a possible relapse because ‘‘at the moment the dams in Savelugu are dried up, there is also inadequate supply of potable water coupled with the difficulties in behavioural change and volunteer fatigue”.
The director further called for the upgrading of facilities at the Savelugu Hospital to enable it to contain the influx of patients. The district has nine health centres including a private clinic that are serving a population of more than ten thousand.
The hospital itself has four medical officers who are making do with some obsolete equipment. It has neither anaesthesia machine nor anaesthetists. He said while non National Health Insurance Scheme clients refused referrals to Tamale, there were also delays in issuance of NHIS cards.
While commending the Savelugu District Assembly for supporting the expansion of the hospital, ‘‘I would also like to appeal to the chief executive and the health ministry to help decongest the OPD and also post more staff to augment our efforts”.
For his part, the District Chief Executive, Alhaji Abubakari Atori, expressed appreciation to the doctors and staff of the hospital for putting in their best in spite of the prevailing challenges.