Ghana Health Service gets a new Fitness Gym

Accra, Sept. 11, GNA - Management of Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Friday inaugurated a new 38,000 dollar-ultra-modern fitness gym, to facilitate regular exercise and promote healthy and productive lifestyle among its workers.

It is located at the GHS Head Office in Accra and equipped with treadmills, cross trainers, rowing machines, exercise bikes, multi gyms, spin bikes and free weights kits.

Dr Elias Kavina Sory, Director General of Service inaugurating the gym on Friday, said daily exercise was a key component of healthy living.

“In order for a person to be healthy, eating a balanced diet alone is not enough. Exercising regularly is a key component of staying healthy,” he said.

Dr Sory said Ghana could not achieve her socio-economic development agenda if the citizenry were not healthy and stressed that regular exercise boosted the immune system for healthy living.

He called on all employers in the country to establish health clubs for their workers to promote regular exercise which was crucial for productivity and good health.

“It is not enough for employers to provide health insurance cards to their employees. The best insurance benefit they can give to their employees is to ensure they did not attend hospital in the first place as a result of regular exercise and other healthy practices,” he said.

Dr Sory underscored the numerous health benefits associated with regular exercise and recommended it as a healthy practice especially for the aged and diabetics.

He called on Ghanaians to join health clubs to ensure they regularly exercised with their family members.

Dr Sory said the ultra-modern gym was a project initiated by his predecessor, Professor Badu Akosah, former Director General of GHS who was committed towards the ideals of 'walking the talk for healthy living.'

Mr Paul Mensah, Gym Instructor, said it was important for parents to inculcate in their children, the habit of regular exercise from infancy and expressed the hope that the habit would help the children to continue such “rich healthy heritage” for posterity.

He expressed concern that most medical practitioners prescribed medication as an alternative to physical fitness and regular exercise which was more important and foremost to healthy living than the medication.

Mr Kofi Agbenyegah Addission, Public Relations Officer of Vitamilk Ghana, said the company recognized the crucial role GHS played in ensuring that Ghanaians enjoyed health and decided to partner GHS for the inauguration.

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“If we need to drum home the essence of healthy living and regular health style among Ghanaians, then GHS need to be supported first since they are at the core of the health care delivery system in the country,” he said.

Mr Jerry Kwame, a 26-year-old worker at the Human Resource Division of GHS said he had already started benefiting by visiting the gym regularly.

He said he had shed more excess weight and felt healthy now than before.

Mr Eric Aryee, a worker at the Transport Unit of GHS confessed that before he started exercising at the gym, he could not perform simple tasks such as lacing his own shoes or climbing the office stairs.

“I had the great challenge of lacing my own shoes because of my big belly. I could not even climb the stairs without gasping for breath or at least having a minute's break at the entrance of my office before entering,” he said.

Mr Aryee called on Ghanaians to take advantage of the numerous health benefits associated with regular exercise.

GNA
/ ghana