Awoshie, surrounding communities benefit from health screening
More than 1,000 residents of Awoshie and surrounding communities in Accra have benefitted from a two-day free health screening exercise organised by the Christ Reformed Church (Kristo Asafo Mission) as part of its 38th Annual Technology Exhibition.
The beneficiaries, most of whom were the aged, children and the less privileged, were screened for dental diseases, diabetes, hypertension, malaria, typhoid fever, prostate and breast cancer and other ailments.
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Additionally, the beneficiaries were tested for their blood group and given free medication, where necessary, and counselled.
Concern
In an interview during the exercise at Awoshie last Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer of OKS Medical Consult, Dr Ohene Kwabena Safo, said the influx of genetically modified foods on the markets was a major contributory factor to the rise in cases of diabetes and hypertension among people.
According to him, about 90 per cent of the foods on the markets, including fruits, had their genetic materials (DNAs) altered through some unnatural means to boost yields, a situation which, he said, had severe health implications for consumers of such produce.
Dr Safo cautioned that diabetes and its related ailments could reach an uncontrollable state if farmers did not revert to the use of organic seeds and healthy farming methods devoid of the use of agro fertilisers.
“Diet is the panacea to all our health conditions. We are experiencing increases in cases of hypertension and diabetes in our hospitals because almost all the foods on our markets today have been genetically engineered, a situation which fights against the body’s natural healing system.
“Majority of the people we screened, including children, had high levels of sugar and blood pressure…..if we do not revert to the consumption of organic foods, a chunk of our population will develop strange complications in the near future,” he cautioned.
Early detection
Later, while interacting with the beneficiaries, Dr Safo explained that the purpose of the exercise was to make for the early detection of diseases among residents and encourage disease prevention and control.
He expressed worry over what he described as the lack of periodic medical check-ups on the part of most Ghanaians and advised the public to visit hospital regularly to prevent them from developing severe health problems.
“Disease prevention in our part of the world is very poor because we do not promote early detection of diseases through regular check-ups. Every disease is best treated when detected on time,” he pointed out.
Some of the beneficiaries of the exercise expressed profound gratitude to the Founder and Leader of the Kristo Asafo Mission, Apostle Dr Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, for the opportunity offered them and appealed to him to sustain the exercise to ensure access to quality health care in the area.
“I have been relying on herbs because I didn’t have money to go to the hospital. We will forever be grateful to the Kristo Asafo Mission for extending healthcare services to us,” one of them, who gave her name only as Akosua said.
“I arrived here as early as 6a.m. in order to ensure that my children and I, would be taken care of.
Although the process had been quite slow, as a result of the numbers, we successfully went through the screening process,” another beneficiary, Mrs Esther Asare said.
Some of the beneficiaries also expressed appreciation to the medical team from OKS Medical Consult for the counselling offered them which, they said, would enable them adopt positive health practices to improve on their health conditions.