Special hospital for the aged set up in Kumasi

A medical health centre has been set up in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, for the health care needs of the ageing and the elderly population in the northern sector of Ghana.

Located in the premises of Metro Health Hospital at Abrepo junction, the centre is designated to seek and address all medical, functional and psychological needs of the elderly, from 60 years and above.

Named Centre for Ageing and Elderly Care and first in the Ashanti region, the facility will also focus on an ageing programme for 40-59 year-olds to ensure they enter their 60s with strong health base.

The center was commissioned on Friday, September 4, 2020, by the Apagyahene of Kumasi Traditional Council, Nana Owusu Afriyie IV, with the support from the Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Services (GHS), Dr. Mrs. Larsen Reindolf.

Other dignitaries included the former Provost of College of Science, KNUST, Prof Mrs. Ibok Oduro, who chaired the occasion, health experts, staff and clients of Metro Health Services.

The Health Director in charge of the Center for Ageing and Elderly Care, Dr Nana Mrs Phyllis Tawiah, in her speech, outlined some health services to be provided by the centre to help the ageing and the elderly access quality healthcare.

Among the services include home visits, ECG, ultrasound, endoscopy, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, x-ray, mammogram among others.

“This centre is the first of its kind in the northern sector and will afford the ageing and elder to access quality healthcare to prevent or minimize challenges associated with old age. The center will also afford training and research on ageing persons in Ghana to help offer the needed health support to the aged,” she said.

She advised the ageing and elderly to desist from ‘self-medication’, a practice she warned has contributed to premature deaths among not only the elderly but among all ages.

The Apagyahene of Kumasi, Nana Owusu Afriyie IV, commended the management of Metro Health Hospital, headed by Dr. Stephen Tawiah and assisted by the Administrator, Michael Appiah Boateng, for establishing the centere aims at improving the health conditions of the elderly persons.

The Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Services, Dr. Mrs. Larsen Reindolf, said a lot of attention must be given to aged population, in terms of health, by implementing the national policy of the aged to improve their well-being.

She made the promise of GHS partnering the Center for Ageing and Elderly Care, first in the Ashanti region, to assist the ageing population in the region to seek the good welfare of them.