400 auxiliary health workers in Mfantseman honoured

The Mfantseman District Directorate of Health Services, is to co-ordinate its activities with other stakeholders to avoid duplication of efforts and to enhance health-care delivery in the District.

Mr Samuel Sosi, District Director of Health Services, stated this at a ceremony organised by the Directorate and the Mankessim Programme Area of Plan, Ghana, a non-government organisation (NGO) to honour some health volunteers at Ekumfi Essuehyia.

He stated that the National Health Insurance Scheme demanded more hands, which the Health Service alone could not provide. "We need more volunteers to support the staff of the Ghana Health Service," he stated.

A total of 400 volunteers, made up of community health volunteers, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), peer educators, community-based distributors, mothers' support groups and daddy's club, were presented with enamel bowls and wax prints.

The volunteers were trained by Plan, Ghana to support health care delivery in some communities it was operating in. Mr Sosi commended the NGO for its contribution in health-care delivery in the district especially in the areas of training volunteers, providing an amount of 200 million to support activities of the Directorate and renovating the Essuehyia Health Centre.

Miss Prudence Crabbe, Health Facilitator of Plan, said the NGO had been operating in the area for the past 12 years and had adopted 44 communities in the Mfantseman and Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese Districts. The focus of the organisation was child-welfare, she said and stated that a new sponsorship package centred on child-participation and involvement in decision-making was to be introduced by the NGO in collaboration with its donor partners.

Ms Margaret Asaam, Deputy Director of Nursing Service (Public Health), advised the volunteers to be motivated by the honour and recognition to work harder.

She cautioned them to operate within the scope of their training and pay special attention to preventive health-care. Mr George Kuntu Blankson, MP for Mfantseman East, announced plans to upgrade the Essuehyia Health Centre into a hospital and advised the people to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme to qualify for affordable health-care.

Nana Baah IV, Acting Omanhene of the Ekumfi Traditional Area, commended the NGO for maintaining cordial relations with the people of the District and the Health Directorate and stressed the need to sustain it.