By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, Aug. 22, GNA – Some children at Soe, a community in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region, have expressed gratitude to the Anini Project, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and management of the Regional Hospital for screening them for medical conditions.
The children, aged 12 years and below, with their parents and guardians, were screened for malaria, and anaemia, and were physically examined to rule out any underlying medical conditions.
The exercise was conducted by the outreach team of the Paediatric Department of the Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, made up of a Physician Specialist, Paediatric Nurse Specialists, General Nurses and laboratory technicians.
Beneficiaries of the screening exercise, through their parents, thanked Ms Sofia Gonzalez Mesias, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NGO, leadership of the Paediatric Department and management of the Regional Hospital for the initiative.
Mr Joseph Ateera, a Parent, who took his daughter through the exercise, told the GNA that “These are some of the initiatives that would bring quality healthcare to people in the rural areas. It is a helpful exercise that would ensure our children are healthy.”
He disclosed that his daughter was diagnosed with low Haemoglobin, and was advised on good quality nutrition to increase the Hb level, “So when such initiatives are brought to the children, it will help improve their health in the communities.”
The Parent, on behalf of her daughter, commended the leadership of the NGO and the outreach team of the Paediatric Department of the Regional Hospital for the support and appealed to them to regularly visit the community to screen the children.
Another parent, Madam Rose Azika, told the GNA after the exercise that “I am exceptionally happy about this screening exercise. It is going to be of great help to the children. Some of the children have conditions, especially low Hb that we as parents are not able to detect. We the parents and children are thankful to the organizers.”
The CEO of the Anini Project said it was the second time the Organization supported the Paediatric Department of the Regional Hospital to conduct the screening exercise in the Bolgatanga Municipality.
She said the first successful screening exercise, where about 200 children were screened for various health conditions, was done at the Zaare community and was hopeful that the exercise would be extended to benefit children in other communities in and outside the Municipality.
Ms Mesias said her outfit apart from its support to vulnerable children in the health sector, including settlement of hospital bills of sick children whose parents could not afford it, the NGO had also extended support to some schools in the Region.
She said the vision of the NGO was basically to put smiles on the faces of less privileged children at orphanages and in communities so that they could grow healthy and become useful and responsible citizens and thanked the management of the Regional Hospital and the health team for the continuous collaboration to ensure a successful exercise.
The Head of the Paediatric Department of the Hospital, Mr Mark Anthony Azongo, said it was the wish of the Department to reach out to as many children as possible in communities with the screening exercise, with the hope to reduce the number of admissions on account of anaemia and malaria.
He was grateful to the NGO, management of the Hospital and members of the outreach team, and also extended gratitude to the managements of Endswell and Bencyn Pharmacies for supporting the exercise.
He appealed to other pharmaceutical companies to support the team with medications to reach out to children in subsequent exercises.
GNA