First Lady rounds-up nationwide medical supplies

By Lydia Asamoah, GNA
Bolgatanga (U/E), July 29, GNA - As part of a nationwide medical outreach activity being carried out by the Lordina Foundation, the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has donated assorted equipment and medical supplies to the Bolgatanga Hospital.

The donation at Bolgatanga rounds-up a medical supply programme to facilities in all the 10 regions of Ghana.

'This is one of the activities engaged in by my Foundation to support health facilities in deprived communities,' the First Lady said when she handed over the supplies to Dr Kofi Issah, the Bolgatanga Regional Director of Health Services.

Mrs Mahama, who started her secondary education at Bolga Girls Senior High School, recalled with fond memories how that community had played a significant role in her upbringing, saying 'Bolga is an important cultural destination and occupies an important pride of place in Ghana's tourism attractions'.

She said over the past two years she had led the team of her Foundation to go to many hospitals and health facilities in other regions and provided similar support to underserved communities to complement what government was already doing.

Mrs Mahama said the medical mission of the Foundation was also engaged in the organisation of outreaches that provided free HIV and AIDS, breast and cervical cancer screening and counselling.

'These are all aimed at supporting the efforts of Government to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which aims at universal health provision for Ghanaians. In view of this I would like to mention that the Government is committed to seeing the completion of the Upper East Regional Hospital here in Bolga,' she said.

Mrs Mahama said when work on the Bolga Hospital was completed it would serve as the regional hospital and training centre for nurses and midwives and other health personnel.

She said as Bolgatanga with its surrounding towns and villages constituted the largest producers of leather works, straw baskets and smocks in the country, government would continue to ensure that the right environment was created to aid the mass production of such handicrafts for exports and tourism purposes.

She said handicrafts were hugely important in Ghana's non-traditional exports and contributed to economic development.

'Like in the East and Southern African countries, Ghana can use craft and tourism as pull factors to bring tourists from across the globe in order to turn the sector into a leading foreign earning sector, contributing significantly to our GDP.

'There is the need to preserve cultural heritage, traditional skills and talents, which are associated with people's lifestyle and history.

'They provide ample opportunities for employing artisans even with no capital investments and through that become an important medium for foreign earnings,' Mrs Mahama said.

She said the Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, had come up with programmes to improve the cohesion between the craft and tourism sectors by creating stronger linkages along an integrated value chain while the Ministry was working on strategies to enhance Ghana's tourism potential in order to increase its share in the growth of the national economy.

They are also facilitating with other stakeholders to train artisans on tourism business basics which would allow them to be more successful in reaching tourism markets.

The First Lady, however, reiterated her plea to traditional authorities to advice the youth to be circumspect in their utterances and behaviour before, during and after this year's election, saying; 'all of us, our message before, during and after the election should be peace'.

She thanked MedShare USA and other sponsors for supporting her Foundation to donate such essential equipment and supplies to many hospitals in the country.

Dr Issah, on his part, thanked the First Lady for leading the efforts to ensure that the rehabilitation works on the hospital was completed on schedule adding that the work was about 90 per cent complete.

He said the Ghana Health Service had chosen the Bolga Hospital as a place of excellence in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Accompanying the First Lady to the hospital were Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr Albert Abongo, the Upper East Regional Minister, and some dignitaries of the National Democratic Congress.

The chiefs and queenmothers and various women's group also gathered to welcome the First Lady to the region.

GNA