By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Wa, (UW/R), March 5, GNA – Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wa East constituency, has organised a free health screening and treatment for his constituents with a focus on hernia conditions.
The exercise was in collaboration with the West Africa Humanitarian Agency, a Turkey-based non-governmental organization (NGO) aimed at diagnosing people with hernia and providing them with the necessary medical attention.
A total of 137 people including children went through the screening process held at the Wa Municipal Hospital, with 60 of them diagnosed with hernia.
The affected people were subsequently operated on at the weekend at the Wa Municipal Hospital by a team of medical professionals working with the NGO.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa during the screening, Dr. Jasaw expressed gratitude to the NGO for its support and commitment to improving the health of the people in the Wa East constituency and beyond.
He said the exercise was timely since many people had been living with hernia conditions for many years without access to proper medical care partly due to financial constraints and expressed commitment to contributing to improving the conditions of the people in his constituency.
Dr. Jasaw noted that the government alone could not meet the healthcare needs of the people, hence, the need for collaboration with other stakeholders and organisations to achieve a healthy population.
The MP appealed to other NGOs and philanthropic organisations to emulate the gesture exhibited by the Turkey-based NGO by supporting health initiatives in the area.
The beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the MP and the NGO for their intervention and said the exercise had brought relief to them and their families and hoped that similar initiatives would be organised in the near future.
“This thing (hernia) was worrying me, I didn’t know what to do because I wasn’t having the money to go to the hospital for the operation so if someone has come to do that for me, I can only thank him and pray for him,” Madam Atalata Abudi, whose son was a beneficiary, said.
Mr Singnaa Tokoro, another beneficiary, said he had tried to treat his condition at the hospital but could not do that due to financial challenges and observed that the intervention by Dr. Jasaw and his partner organisation was a life-saving initiative.
Dr. Ahmed Boyelle, who was in charge of the operations at the Hospital, indicated that the patients operated on were “doing well” and some had been discharged.
He said some of the patients were in critical condition and could have lost their lives if the MP had not intervened timely.
He, therefore, advised the public not to wait until their hernia conditions became critical before trying to access healthcare.
GNA