By Edward Dankwah
Accra, Jan. 25, GNA – Mrs Florence Kuukyi, Director, Metro Public Health Department, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), says this year, the department will be intensifying its intersectoral collaborations.
She said the department had realised that they could not do it alone, hence, the need for collective action involving more than one specialised agency, performing different roles for a common purpose.
“You have seen climate change, well-being, resilient cities, and hunger and poverty reduction all as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all these are interconnected and the Environmental Health Officer is in the middle of all, so, we need to intensify collaboration,” the Director said.
Mrs Kuukyi said this during the year in review of the Metro Public Health Department of the A.M.A held in Accra.
The Director said environmental health played a critical role in achieving SDGs by influencing and contributing to various dimensions of sustainable development.
She said they acted as a foundational element that underpinned multiple SDGs, ensuring that the goals were interconnected and addressing the complex web of factors that influenced human well-being and sustainable development.
“Improving environmental health is not only a goal in itself, SDG 3, but it is also a catalyst for achieving a broad spectrum of sustainable development objectives,” Mrs Kuukyi added.
She said the public health department was responsible for the health, education, organising of trainings, community durbars, awareness creation and inspections of public institutions such as schools, and to receive complaints from both internal and external publics.
The Director said at the year, the department inspected and assessed over 850 public places such as hospitality industries, market places, both public and private health facilities, and issued 238 sustainability health and safety certificates to deserving facilities and institutions upon inspection
She said the department inspected 63 per cent of all premises as compared to 86 per cent in 2022, 62 per cent of residential premises as compared to 84 per cent in 2022, 63 per cent of residential premises with toilets as compared to 89 per cent in 2022.
Mrs Kuukyi said, however, there was an increase in premises registration on waste collation of 83 per cent as compared to 53 per cent in 2022, adding that 477 environmental and sanitation offenders were successfully prosecuted as compared to 519 prosecutions in 2022.
She said in the year of review, the department received 176 sanitation and hygiene complaints from the public through the three sub-metros and the department.
“These complaints were concerning a series of public nuisances such as indiscriminate dumping of refuse, noise nuisance, smoke nuisance, ferocious dogs, stray animals and many more,” she stressed.
The Director said upon receipt of complaints, officers were assigned to visit the premises or the vicinity of the complaint for investigations and its resolution.
She said 136 complaints had been resolved and that the rest were pending due to duration given to offenders to abate the said nuisance and some were being processed to court.
Mrs Kuukyi said lack of uniforms and ID cards to aid in compliance, inadequate office space for the department, irregular availability of funds to fuel vehicles for prompt enforcement, and many more were challenges the department encountered.
She added that procuring uniforms and ID cards for staff to help in visibility, regular provision of fuel and prompt payment of vehicle maintenance and allocating additional office space to enable prosecution units to join the department would enhance their operations.
GNA