The Haven of Love Children’s Foundation, a Non-Governmental Christian Organization, has organized a four-day free medical screening exercise for residents in the Bawku West, Binduri and the Garu Districts of the Upper East Region.
The 1200 residents from across the districts, who benefitted from the exercise, were screened for hepatitis ‘B’, typhoid, and malaria infections, while their Body Mass Index (BMI), Random Blood Sugar (RBS), Haemoglobin (HB) levels and Blood Pressure (BP) were checked.
The medical team, comprising doctors and nurses of various categories, led by Dr Kingsley Onyedikachi Chibuzor, started the screening at Binaba, a community in the Bawku West District on the first day and proceeded to Zawse community in the Binduri District.
On the theme: “You live once, let’s make it count,” the team attended to residents in Garu and Teshie, a community near Zebilla in the Bawku West District.
The team as part of the exercise, offered health education on typhoid fever, stomach ulcer and nutrition to the beneficiaries, and encouraged them to drink more water to keep themselves hydrated.
They further extended the education to students of the Zebilla Senior High, the Garu and Binduri Community Day Senior High Schools and also embarked on radio discussions on health.
Mr Samuel Nana Bekai Djirackor, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the exercise, said the initiative was in partnership with the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Dansoman, Accra.
“We also partnered with the Second Runner-Up of the Miss Upper East, Miss Lucy Atibilla to include her advocacy against bleaching in the program,” Mr Djirackor said.
He noted that the screening exercise was not the first of its kind conducted by the Foundation and recalled that the Foundation had over the years partnered with other organizations to undertake free dental, eye screening and surgeries among other exercises in the districts.
The CEO said the Foundation was established on the principles of love of God, especially His love for children, “The love of God is what pushes us to help the downtrodden and the less privileged.”
He said the healthcare needs of residents in the respective Districts were of concern to the Foundation and noted that the doctor to patient ratio in the Bawku West District alone was 3:30,000.
Mr Djirackor said “Binduri and Garu Districts each have one Doctor. So, because of that, the Doctor to patient interaction is very low.
“Once we have Doctors who are willing to come around because of their affiliation to the Foundation and the love of Christ, we used it as an opportunity for the people to have interactions with Doctors,” he said.
He disclosed that because of residents interactions with the Doctors, they realized that about 600 children were not dewormed, and based on the team’s findings, the children were given medications.
Dr Chibuzor advocated environmental cleanliness and called on stakeholders and members of the communities to regularly engage in clean-up exercises to ensure a clean environment.
He advised those with diabetes and hypertension to regularly check their sugar and BP levels, and take their prescribed medications accordingly, “It is very important because; if they are not able to control these conditions, they will likely develop complications,” he added.
Some beneficiaries of the screening exercise expressed gratitude to leadership of the Foundation and the medical team for the initiative and appealed for more of such exercises to enable them to stay healthy.
