Cocoa farmers embrace telemedicine

Kumasi, Aug. 26, GNA - Kuapa Kokoo Farmers' Union - a farmers' cooperative, has introduced a telemedicine project to help effectively tackle the health needs of the Ghanaian cocoa farmer.

Ms. Fatima Ali, the National President, said this was being piloted in cocoa growing areas in the Western, Central, Eastern and Brong-Ahafo Regions by a team of medical consultants engaged by the Union.

She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the goal was to bring quality healthcare to over 100,000 farmers, in deprived communities that lacked health infrastructure.

This was on the sidelines of the 21st annual delegates' conference of the Union, held under the theme: 'Deepening decentralization through the cooperative way - a valuable tool for farmer development'.

Telemedicine, the newest technology in healthcare delivery, allows patients to be diagnosed and given treatment via information and communication technology (ICT).

Ms. Ali said the project would significantly augment its mobile clinic programme launched some months ago to provide on-the-spot medical care to farmers suffering from various ailments.

She underlined the need for everybody to pay particular attention to their health, adding that, this was the way to remain economically productive.

She reminded farmers to regularly exercise their bodies and to report any disease attack to the medical facilities for prompt treatment.

Ms. Ali said the National Executive Council she headed would continue to introduce interventions to boost the health status of those they had been working with.

GNA