More anti-retroviral drugs for hospitals

Techiman (B/A), Sept. 22, GNA - The Brong-Ahafo Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service would by the end of the year make available more anti-retroviral drugs for some hospitals in the region.

Dr. George Bonsu, Acting Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services disclosed this at a day's forum held at the Holy Family Hospital to interact with the sector Minister, Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) on his working visit in the region. Dr. Bonsu said at the moment, some municipal and district hospitals had been provided with the anti-retroviral drug to prevent mother to child transmission.

He mentioned Techiman and Sunyani as the municipal health hospitals and Dormaa and Goaso district hospitals, which had been provided with the drugs.

Dr. Bonsu said training had also been carried out for health officers at the regional hospital to administer the anti-retroviral HIV drugs and urged the people to co-operate with health personnel to render good services as service providers. He deplored the way vaccines were being kept in fridges and allowed to go bad whereas other districts and communities had been yeaning for such vaccines and warned against such practices.

Mr. Philip Akanzinge, Brong-Ahafo Regional Co-Coordinator of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) said the National Health Insurance Council was to set up zonal offices throughout the country to facilitate the effectiveness of the scheme in the country. Addressing nurses, workers and Para-medical staff of the Holy Family Hospital, Major Quashigah urged the nurses to show concern for patients who were not educated against any form of diseases towards health promotion.

He said all health workers had forgotten the promotion of health but had rather been concentrating on curative measures and underscored the need for them to embark on health needs of the people in a manner that they would not fall sick and refrain from expensive funerals and festivals.

Major Quashigah stressed the need for health personnel to wage war on upsurge of malaria through the use of preventive measures instead of sitting down only to diagnose patients.

He commended the workers of the hospital for their hard work and efforts made in providing infrastructure development and also promised them that he would see to the up-grading of the hospital so that it could in future be turned into a training centre for medical practitioners.

The Minister inspected the offices of the proposed polyclinic currently occupied by the Primary Health Care Division and received three motorbikes valued at 20 million cedis provided by three businessmen to the Municipal Health Insurance Scheme.