Armed Forces Provide free health care to Nyagbo-Agodome community

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November 22, 2013

A soldier paramedic attending to a patient

The entire community of Nyagbo-Agodome in the Afadjato south district of the Volta region was filled with excitement when a medical team from the Military Academy of the Ghana Armed Forces brought health care to their door steps last Friday.

The nine member medical team comprising a medical doctor, a Principal Nursing officer and six other paramedics screened and treated about 500 persons of various ailments.

Ailments diagnosed and treated according to Dr. Munkaila Masuru, include, hypertension, skin disorders, Malaria, Pneumonia and others which the team administered hypertension drugs, analgesics, de-wormers, minerals, vitamin supplements and anti-malaria drugs free of charge. Persons with severe conditions were however referred to the Volta regional hospital for further treatment.

Major Patience Awumee an instructor at the Military Academy and a Principal Nursing Officer told Dailyguide that the rationale behind the exercise was to show appreciation to the communities in the Ho-west and Afadjato-south districts which host cadets from the Military academy annually on a training programme dubbed the ‘Eastern Trek’.

The team also presented assorted medical disposables including, dressing gauze, gloves, thermometers, syringes and needles, cotton wool, anaesthetic masks, bleach among others to the Nyagbo and Amedzofe health centres respectively.

Okusie Akyemfoli V, chief of Amedzofe, who received the items on behave of the Amedzofe health centre, thanked the Ghana armed forces for the gesture and promise the items will be put to good use.

He also asked the military high command to consider constructing a permanent structure in the area to accommodate the cadets and officers during the training exercise instead of sleeping in classrooms.

Earlier, the cadets led by their instructors and the commander of the Ghana Military academy, Col. Francis Buliga presented 150 mahogany seedlings to the Nyagbo-gagbefe D/A basic school and also planted some trees on the school compound to climax their one week training exercise.

Major Awumee presenting the items

Prayer Camps not Delivery Homes- Midwife

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Kwadwo Duodu

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November 12, 2013

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Madam Innocentia Anthonio

A principal nursing officer at the Ho Municipal Hospital, Madam Innocentia Anthonio, has asked pastors to desist from keeping pregnant women in prayer camps and instead refer them to the health centres for ante-natal services.

According to her, some pastors have turned themselves into midwives admitting pregnant women in prayer camps until their conditions get critical before rushing them to a health facility.

Speaking at a day’s orientation for media practitioners in Ho, on the importance of maternal health issues, Madam Anthonio said deaths from childbirth were largely preventable but delays of pregnant women in getting to health centres coupled with weird religious beliefs contribute to maternal deaths.

“You cannot do deliveries; your job is to pray. So don’t delay them, let them come to the hospital to deliver” Madam Anthonio said, stressing that “am not against prayer but give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”.

She advised pregnant women to take the attendance at antenatal clinics seriously to ensure their safe delivery.

Madam Anthonio also called on the media to engage in a crusade to get people to understand all that go into maternal healthcare.

Attitude of Health workers

Dr. Asare

Participants at the programme also pointed to the bad attitude of some health workers towards patients, as a major factor which discouraged people to seek services from the facilities.

Dr Kwesi Asare Bediako, Medical Superintendent of the Keta Government Hospital, alluded to the claims and said many clients, including pregnant women virtually shrink at the need to have to return to the same facilities that they were mistreated and could keep postponing the visit until they were rushed back in critical condition.

He however disclosed that the Ghana Health Service has begun a training programme for its staff across the country on customer care. “Poor handling of clients is a major challenge in the health service; but we are changing. We are conducting in-service training for all categories of staff in customer care”.

He also disclosed that the GHS has included customer care in the curricular of all health training institutions and “all students who enter the schools are train in customer care especially in communication skills”.

Ghana Gets ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Taskforce

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Kwadwo Duodu

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November 5, 2013

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Inspector-General of Police

The first batch of One hundred and forty police officers have successfully ended a one month intensive police training with focus on Specialized Training Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) at the Ho Police Training School on Friday.

The officers drawn from the eleven police regions received training in handling critical security situations including terrorism, violent crimes, mob action, hostage rescuing, armed robbery and the protection of VIPs and vital national installations.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, said the changing trend in criminal activities including terrorism across the world, especially in Africa and the sub-region is a challenge to the security agencies and “we in Ghana cannot pretend not to be concern”.

He noted that “the only way to secure our nation is for us to continuously train our personnel to be abreast with the changing and more difficult challenges of modern policing”.

Mr. Alhassan tasked the officers to live their lives “both on duty and off duty with the highest discipline and integrity” and not see themselves as ‘special elites’ and be demanding for special treatment.

Some of the Officers

“See yourselves as the privileged few who have been call upon to go beyond the normal performance of our duty” the IGP emphasized and cautioned the officers against the abuse of the skills acquired.

Director-General of Police operations, COP John Kudalor said the officers have equipped to respond effectively and efficiently to violent situations including terror attacks in any part of the country.

COP Kudalor, also disclosed that the recently inaugurated “Formed Police Unit (FPU), will have an ‘Anti-Terrorism’ unit to combat any act terrorism and violent crimes.

He however called for the support of the general public by reporting any suspicious characters in the communities. “The police service is ready, despite our training but we cannot do it alone. Security is a shared responsibility” he said.

New Police recruits on parade

In a related development, 294 police recruits have passed out from the Ho Police Training School in last Thursday after six months of training.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) in-charge of finance, Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, charged the new constables to uphold the professional integrity of the service in the discharge of their duties.

According to him the police service has so many good police officers and only few officers tarnishing the image of the service. He therefore asked families to help the new police officers develop good social values to compliment their professional ethics for the benefit of the nation.

The recruits were trained in criminal law, criminal procedure and investigation, law of evidence, acts and decrees, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and service instructions, among other topics.

Five recruits who distinguished themselves during the training were honoured, with Isaac Baffoe-Koranteng being the best academician and over-all best recruit.

Gov’t Stop Common Fund Of Orphan Districts

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Kwadwo Duodu

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November 5, 2013

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The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has stopped the disbursement of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) to assemblies without substantive chief executives.

This came to light at the general meeting of Ho Municipal Assembly on last Wednesday.

Presenting the assembly’s 2014 Composite Budget, Francis Sogbe, Municipal Finance Officer, told assembly members that the Ministry of Local Government had directed that the transfer of common fund allocation to ‘orphan’ assemblies be withheld until substantive chief executives are in place.

“First quarter has been released but the assembly’s share has not been transferred to us. The reason is that the Ministry of Local Government says all assemblies that do not have substantive chief executives will not receive their money until a substantive chief executive is appointed.”

Mr. Sogbe said this in response to a question posed by one of the assembly members as to whether the assembly had received its share of the 2013 DACF.

He however disclosed that the disability and MP’s allocations had been transferred to their various accounts.

The Ho Municipality is one of the five assemblies without chief executives in the Volta region.

The Assembly members in September rejected the President’s nominee, Fafa Adinyira.

The lack of Common Fund has adversely affected the execution of projects within the municipality.

Some assembly members have complained about delay in the execution of developmental projects in their communities, which were captured in the 2013 Budget.

Tragedy at Kpetoe; Two brothers drowned

By

Kwadwo Duodu

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October 14, 2013

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lifeless body of Korku Eklo

The entire community of Kpetoe-Anatikorpe was thrown into a state of shock Sunday morning when two brothers got drowned in a nearby dam. The boys were said to have gone to wash a motor bike at the dam side when they met their untimely death.

Wisdom, A resident who was at incident scene, narrated that one of the younger boy was fetching water from the dam with a bucket and in the process fell into the dam, but in a move to rescue him, the elder brother also jumped into the dam and they both got drowned.

The incident which occurred at about 8:30am took local divers close to four hours to retrieve the lifeless body of one of the boys but efforts to retrieve the other body was unsuccessful after three attempts as darkness set in.

The Kpetoe District Police Commander, DSP Toya confirmed the tragic incident to US FM and gave their names as Paul Kwame Klu and Korku Klu, both sixteen and nine years respectively.

He said the body of Korku which was retrieved has been deposited at the Ho municipal hospital morgue while the search will continue Monday to retrieve the body of Kwame.

The dam which is as a result of quarry activities undertaken in the area by Sonitra Construction Company in the late 1970s during the construction of the Ho-Aflao highway, serves as a source of portable water for communities nearby.

Avatime-Amu Festival launched

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Kwadwo Duodu

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October 14, 2013

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Osie Adza Terkpor VII

The 4^th edition of the Amu (Brown Rice) festival of the chiefs and people of the Avatime traditional area dubbed ‘AMUFEST, 2013’ has been launched on Saturday and is expected to take place from November 3-10, 2013, at Avatime Dzogbefeme in the Ho-West district of the Volta region.

The theme for this year’s event is “Unity and Development in Avatime through Rice Culture and Eco-tourism”.

Launching the festival, the paramount chief of the area, Osie Adza Tekpor VII, said the AMUFEST which was reinstituted in 2010 is celebrated on rotational basis to stimulate development in the seven major communities that constituted the traditional area.

The reinstituted festival was first celebrated at Avatime-Vane in 2010, followed by Amedzofe in 2011 and Biakpa in 2012. The other communities are Gbadzeme, Fume and Dzokpe.

A sod was cut as part of the launch for the construction of an ICT and a library complex to promote quality education in the area and Funds raised from the festival would be channelled towards that project as well as the expansion of water and sanitation projects for the Dzogbefeme community.

The festival, according to Osie Adza Tekpor VII would also be used to showcase and promote the nutritional value of the local brown rice, which is a delicacy in the area and also promote the tourism potentials of the area.

‘We want to promote the consumption of the local brown rice, which is very nutritious across the region, the country and the whole world’.

He urged the people to sustain the cultivation of the crop for economic growth and called on citizens elsewhere to support their people to develop the area.

‘Citizens outside the area, use this festival as opportunity to take leave off your work and visit home to socialize and support the development of your area. It is your God’s given right to come from Avatime’.

The festival will be climax on Saturday, November 9 and it is expected to be graced by former president Rawlings.

‘Support Mahama to Fight Corruption’- Rawlings tells Ghanaians

By

Kwadwo Duodu

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October 7, 2013

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Rawlings responding to cheers at the festival ground

Former President, Jerry John Rawlings says President Mahama’s government will succeed only if members of the public help to expose the weaknesses in his government and offer concrete suggestions in fighting corruption.

Rawlings said he was aware of the fact that the government is confronted with a number of challenges including corruption and stated that the President concedes that all Ghanaians need to join hands in combating the problem.

President Rawlings who delivered the keynote address at the annual Deza Festival of the chiefs and people of Dzodze in the Volta Region on Saturday, said: “There is no point in voting for the President and government and sitting down waiting for Accra. You have an equal responsibility to help develop your country by refusing to sit on the fence doing nothing.”

Reforms in NDC

Touching on the NDC the former President, who is also the Founder of the party called for a review of the electoral college of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to make it more representative of the will of the people.

“The time has come to enlarge the electoral college of the NDC so a larger group of people which is better representative of various local communities, elect officers of the party including the flag bearer. Others may have initiated that method but we can do better and come up with a larger and more representative electoral college. We should have done that a long time ago”.

“Those of our officers and executives with integrity must support reform and should have nothing to fear. Let us not do anything to undermine the attempt to hand the party back to the people. To do so will be risking the life of the NDC.”

Mr. Rawlings, who virtually turned the durbar ground into a party rally, said “NDC’s decision should not come from only 20,000 people…give us 150,000”.

“Maintain the 20,000 and see what will happen to you in this country in 2016”, Mr Rawlings warned and said: “Your victory will come from taking back your party… an expansion of the Electoral College, the voting power!”

Teach Young People to Use Contraceptives-Minister

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Kwadwo Duodu

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October 7, 2013

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The Minister of Health, Ms. Sherry Ayittey has called for the education of the youth on family planning and the use of contraceptives.

She said the world population profile indicated that more than half of the people are under the age of 25, yet “it is a taboo in our society to hear young people talk about family planning and contraception”.

She therefore called on the Ghana Education Service to include reproductive health lessons into the curricula of schools to ensure continues education and awareness creation among young people on their reproductive health issues.

“It is important to prioritize and scale-up youth sexual reproductive health programmes; including a comprehensive sexuality education that teaches young people about their rights and options to ensure that young women to have access to a range of contraceptive methods”.

Ms. Ayittey made the call at the formal launch of this year’s National Family Planning week in Ho on Wednesday on the theme ““Your future, your choice, your contraception, Act Now!”.

The Director General of the Ghana Health service, Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, said the nation’s population must grow in tandem with its resources and noted that national family week celebration is meant to provide education on the need for couples to plan their family.

Dr Appiah-Denkyira called on communities to select nurses at their Community-Based Health Planning Services compounds to educate the people on “how to grow”.

He also asked traditional and religious leaders to join the fray to get the youth informed on reproductive health to enable them make the right choices.

Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, Volta Regional Minister said the Volta region in the first half of 2013, had 35 maternal mortality cases and over fifteen percent of all anti-natal attendance were teenagers. He therefore called for the usage of family planning methods to curb the situation.

Construction Industry Needs Reforms – Dogbegah

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Kwadwo Duodu

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October 4, 2013

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INSET: Mr. and Mrs. Dogbegah

The enormous challenges being faced by the construction industry cannot be wished away, but calls for a more radical and consistent transformation in order to match up to the international standards, Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah, Chairman of the Ghana Construction Association Council, has hinted.

According to him, a lot of standards had been compromised in the industry, thereby by creating a lot of inequality and obstacles that are virtually killing local firms at the expense of the foreign ones.

Mr Dogbegah made the call in Ho during a symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of Berock Ventures Limited (BVL), an indigenous Construction Firm which he founded.

He called on the local contractors to stay united and fight for their rights because the future of upcoming firms and that of the country depended on it. He urged Ghanaian contractors to be bold, take risks and make sacrifices to improve the construction industry in the country.

He added that “Ghanaian contractors must be determined because…there is nothing to lose when you keep trying…we don’t miss anything when making attempts.”

Mr Dogbegah who is also the Chairman of the Ghana Centre for Chartered Institute of Building also cautioned local contractors against undercoating their bids, since this affected the quality and lifespan of their work.

“It eventually reduces the standards in the industry which is a serious recipe for disaster as far as the industry was concerned… If we can compete with the foreign companies and eventually overtake them, we need to stick to the right bids and standards.”

He also emphasized the need for continuous capacity and knowledge acquisition to stimulate creativity and innovation in order to beat the competition from the international competitors.

Mr Dogbegah who is also the Chairman of the pioneer Construction Research Fund for the industry also called on government to take swift pragmatic steps to tackle issues facing the contractors and the industry as a whole because “Government and state institutions are part of the problem.”

The Chairman of the Volta Regional Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG), Prosper Ledi, commended Berock for blazing the trail for other indigenous firms to follow and hoped that the challenges of the industry would soon be overcomed.

The Chief Executive Officer of the BVL, Courage Dogbegah commended the founder in believing in young people and allowing them to run the company he founded. He noted that the company which was registered in 1993 built a head teacher’s bungalow in Keklebesi in the Agotime-Ziope District of the Volta Region in 1994.

That contract was completed with materials and equipment on credit, a scenario synonymous with start-ups in the country. Twenty years down the lane, the company had become one of the leading building firms in the country, competing with international players.

Buildings in the firm’s credit include the Hilla Limann Hall at the University of Ghana, Legon, Schools of Engineering and Business at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST). Others are the National ICT Park for Ghana which is due for completion in November, 15-storey Ghana Shippers Authority Office Complex, the National Blood Centre for Korle-Bu, among others.

He added that Berock which hopes to be a global player had spent over $100,000 in corporate social responsibilities. The firm which is currently registered in Liberia and other countries in the sub-region hopes to open departments such as real estates and property development, facility management and road construction in the coming year.

Credit: Fred Duodu, DailyGuide, Ho

FDA destroys fake and unregistered pharmaceuticals in Ho

By

Kwadwo Duodu

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September 27, 2013

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the fake & unregistered products

The Volta regional office of the Food and Drugs Authority has on Thursday, set fire to dozens of over one hundred fake and unregistered pharmaceutical products kept the ware house of local pharmaceutical company, Tobinco in Ho.

According to the FDA, a post market surveillance exercises conducted revealed that Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited had imported and distributed the fake and unregistered medicines onto the Ghanaian market.

Mr. Roderick Daddey-Adjei, regional officer of FDA, said some of the fake and unregistered products had been supplied to regional medical stores, hospitals and pharmacies nationwide, which the authority have immediately recall in order to protect public health and safety.

“We want the general public to be wary of products from Tobinco, out of the over one hundred products in their warehouse, only seven are duly registered by the authority. The ware house also is not registered, as required by law, so we have closed it down” Mr. Daddey-Adjei said.

He also urged pharmacies and licensed chemical shops dealing in Tobinco products to be very cautious and contact the authority for the list of registered products.

Some of the pharmaceutical products, included Antibiotics and respiratory medicines, baering brand names like ‘cough cold’, ‘hitman condom’ etc. He said the products pose a serious threat to public health and safety since they had not been evaluated for their quality, safety and efficacy by the Authority.

He however assured the public that the FDA has withdrawn these fake and unregistered products.

Mr. Daddey-Adjei also asked persons buying Herbal medicines, to look out for the FDA registration number and ‘if you cannot see the registration number on the product, please do not buy it’.

He said the FDA will not renege on its mandate and urged those dealing in pharmaceuticals to do the right thing by registering their products with the authority.

The destruction was witnessed by the volta Regional officer of the Environmental Protection Agency, Togbui Aklaku Ahorney.