Medical team holds outreach at Yendi
A forty-three member medical team from the Yendi Government Hospital and the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has undertaken a medical outreach programme at Yendi.
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The outreach programme was initiated by the Regent of Dagbon, His Majesty Kampakuya-Naa Andani Yakubu Abdulai, with support from Mylife Fair Organisation, a non-governmental organisation working to provide free and quality healthcare to the vulnerable and the rural poor in the society and the Church of Christ.
Courtesy call
Before undertaking the exercise, members of the team, made up of medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and other paramedics, paid a courtesy call on the Regent of Dagbon at the Gbewaa Palace at Yendi last Saturday.
The team checked the blood pressure of the people, who were also, screened for malaria, diabetes and poor eyesight, as well as ear, nose and throat (ENT) diseases.
Welcoming the team to the palace, the Regent, who is also the Overlord of the Dagbon State, appealed to the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for the provision of anti-snake and anti-rabies serums to help save the lives of people bitten by snakes and rabies-infected animals in the Yendi area and its environs in the Northern Region.
Essential medication
He said the appeal for essential medications was to help improve the health conditions of the people in the area, especially the rural poor.
The exercise, according to the Regent of Dagbon, was to provide free medical care for the people of Yendi and its environs, adding that "health is an important element in a nation's life and a determinant factor in how productive people are."
"It is important to note that the future of Dagbon and the entire nation depends largely on a healthy population," he stated.
Kampakuya-Naa Abdulai expressed his appreciation to Mylife Fair Organisation which provided assorted drugs worth over GH¢10,000 that were dispensed to the people during the exercise. He also thanked the Manager of the Church of Christ Rural Water Programme, Mr Nathaniel Adams Jnr, and the team of medical personnel for their immense support for the exercise.
About 1,000 residents of Yendi and its environs, including children, women and the aged were screened for various ailments during the exercise held at the Yendi Community Centre, and provided with free medications.
Referrals
Those whose medical conditions required further attention were referred to the Yendi Government Hospital and other health facilities in the region.
Mr Adams Jnr said the exercise was also to help build a basic database on the health status of the people and those who were not beneficiaries of the NHIS, in order to assist them to enrol on the scheme to access healthcare.
He added that it was also to provide free healthcare beyond the NHIS and other essential services which was not covered under the scheme for the people in the area.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Mylife Fair Organisation, the major sponsors of the exercise, Mr Jonathan Gumah Koligu, said his organisation would continue to support such initiatives in various communities to enable the poor and vulnerable in the society to have access to quality health care.
The leader of the medical team from the TTH, Dr Raymond Danso, described the exercise as the well-organised free medical outreach to be hosted in the region.
For his part, Dr Francis Kwaku Owusu of the Yendi Government Hospital lauded the Regent of Dagbon for the initiative, while some of the beneficiaries of the exercise also expressed their gratitude to the regent.