Derbi Avenue residents benefit from free health screening
About 550 residents of Derby Avenue and its environs in the Greater Accra Region have benefitted from a free health screening and medical care exercise organised by the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
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The exercise formed part of activities to commemorate the 130 years of Catholicity in the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra.
It was dubbed: “130 years of Catholicity in Sacred Heart Parish, Derby Avenue, a time to enlarge the space of our tent.”
The exercise offered and saw beneficiaries screened for hepatitis B, malaria, blood sugar, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), breast cancer, eye screening, and high cholesterol levels.
They were also screened for Covid-19.
The beneficiaries who did no have health insurance were registered onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) while those with expired ones had their insurance renewed.
The Chairman of the Committee, Joseph Ashianor, said as part of the activities to earmark the celebration, the church saw the need to organise free health screening and extend it to the whole community.
He advised the community to take advantage, get tested for various ailments as the church had made available the necessary basic medication to enable them to seek early treatment.
“A lot of Ghanaians had medical conditions that they have no idea of because of lack of necessary resources and time to undergo routine medical check-ups, so we have health experts here that they can seek medical advice from,” Mr Ashianor said.
A nurse and coordinator of the medical team, Florence Mensah, said the health screening was a preventive measure to detect early signs of health problems and a unique chance for people to know their health status.
She explained that the diseases screened were prevalent in the country and so there was a need for beneficiaries to take precautionary measures to seek the appropriate medical attention.
Unhealthy lifestyles
The Parish Priest of Sacred Heart, Rev Fr Delase Kojo Parku, cautioned against the community to abstain from unhealthy lifestyles such as hard drugs, alcohol and reckless living as that caused a lot of harm to their health.
