The ongoing community medical screening project initiated by the Jubilee Partners for districts on the western coastal belt, will help rejuvenate the capacity of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in identifying, monitoring and fighting endemic diseases in the Western Region, Dr Teddy Avotri, Director of Metropolitan Health Services has said.
Dr Avotri was speaking to journalists at the third phase of the Jubilee Partners' Community Health Screening Programme at New-Takoradi, a fishing community of about 35,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Takoradi.
He said regular and well-coordinated medical screening on the scale initiated by the Jubilee Partners would help the GHS to update its data on
the health status of vulnerable communities and enhance the capacity of the Service in the discharge of badly needed primary and community health care.
On November 27 this year, the Jubilee Venture Partners, led by the unit operator, Tullow Ghana Limited, in collaboration with the Ghana Health
Service and local government authorities, launched a US$150,000 community outreach project involving free medical screening and treatment for common ailments for coastal communities in the Western Region.
Two teams of health professionals, each consisting of physician specialists, ophthalmologists, ENT specialists, optometrists, dentists, nurses and other medical support staff, have been mobilized by the Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service to conduct thorough medical screening and to offer treatment and medical advice to inhabitants in the districts of Shama, Ahanta West, Nzema East, Ellembele, Jomoro and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
Operating on Saturdays, the Jubilee Partners' mobile hospital, has so far conducted mass screening in the Shama and Ahanta West districts and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
Dr Avotri said Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Health authorities purposely chose New-Takoradi for the exercise because its population,
largely engaged in fishing, was highly unstable and therefore vulnerable to many diseases.
Mr Kobina Prah Annan, Metropolitan Chief Executive for Sekondi-Takoradi, said if all the big companies conducting profitable businesses within the Metropolis were as forthcoming in investing in the interest of the communities as the Jubilee Partners have demonstrated even ahead of the production of oil, Sekondi-Takoradi could experience tremendous transformation.
Among the several hundreds who turned up at the New-Takoradi Roman Catholic School for screening, some 800 adults were examined, counselled and offered treatment for various ailments, including diabetes, hypertension,
breast cancer, visual impairment, ear-nose-and-throat diseases (ENT)and HIV; another 520 children were de-wormed on the spot.
The highlight of the New-Takoradi exercise, however, was the sudden arrival of a large contingent of doctors from the National Mobile Dental Services, just hours after they had launched the Western Region phase of the National Oral Health Awareness Month at Takoradi. About twenty dentists joined in the screening exercise, taking turns to conduct dental examination
and offer advice to excited patients.
Mr Kenneth McGhee, CSR Projects Manager at Tullow Ghana Limited, said the next stop of the Jubilee Community Medical outreach project would be the Nzema East district capital, Axim.