Tampion (N/R), Sept 14, GNA - Mrs Pamela Bridgewater, the U.S. Ambassador in Ghana, on Wednesday visited the Northern Region to see the joint medical outreach exercise being undertaken by the U.S. Air Force and the Ghana Military in the Tampion and Bilpeila communities in the Savelugu/ Nanton District and the Tamale Municipality. The purpose of the exercise, which would cover other parts of the country and West Africa, is to allow U.S. and Ghanaian forces to train as partners in a variety of activities, including humanitarian civil assistance, simulated mass casualty exercise and medical civil action. The medical team is made up of 49 U.S. Air Force personnel and 21 Ghanaian military personnel.
The U.S. personnel include specialists, surgeons, emergency room physicians, family practice physicians, paediatricians, dentists, optometrists, nurses, pharmacy staff and technicians.
The medical team would examine eyes and ears, take the blood pressure of patients and generally treat minor diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, fever and give drugs and spectacles free of charge. Mrs Bridgewater described the exercise as very encouraging and said it would go a long way to strengthen the already cordial relations existing between Ghana and the U.S.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister, appealed for more of such interventions to enable the people access quality health care.
He commended the U.S. for its support and expressed the hope the joint medical exercise would strengthen further the already cordial relations between the two countries.
Group Captain Ishmael Abass, the Garrison Commander, said he wanted to see more cooperation between the U.S. and the Ghana Army especially in aspects of military/ civilian relationships. He said the U.S. Air Force medical team was rendering invaluable service to the region because the Tamale Teaching Hospital, which was the referral hospital, was having problems coping with patients attending it.
"I hope we in Ghana would one day be able to reciprocate your assistance to us", Group Captain Abass said. Colonel Bret Burton leader of the U.S. team and a paediatrician said the team hoped to attend to about 3,000 patients during the one-week exercise.
