Health alert! Girls under 15 resort to Family Planning to avoid pregnancy

Young girls between the age of 13 and 15 in Kumasi in the Ashanti region are resorting to family planning methods to avoid unwanted pregnancies, Starr FM has gathered.

The girls, according to an investigation by Starr FM's Ashanti regional correspondent Isaac Bediako Justice are often taken to the hospital by their parents for the procedure.

According to official records of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, the number of girls who apply for the procedure keeps rising from year to year.

Between January and November this year, 180 young girls have already undergone the procedure. 2013 registered 172 while 161 undertook the process in 2012.

A gynecologist at the KATH, Dr Ernest Quarcoo, who confirmed the development to Bediako Justice said “Over the four years under review, we’ve seen a certain trend going up. Younger adolescent between the ages of 13 and 15 going up. The number of teenagers involved keeps increasing year to year”

He said even though he finds it inappropriate to make children undergo the exercise, Ghana’s laws make room for children to benefit from every health right.

“ An extension to the 1988 children, You cannot discriminate against a child on the basis of that person being a child. So what it means is that you cannot deny service to a child because the law prohibits that” he stated.