By Frank Kwame Abbor
Tsito (V/R), July 28, GNA – Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ho West Constituency, has launched a five-day free medical outreach programme and donated two fully equipped ambulances to the Ghana National Ambulance Service to enhance healthcare delivery and emergency response in the constituency.
The outreach programme, which began on July 27 and ends on July 31, is expected to provide free medical screening, specialist consultations, medication, health education and referral services to about 3,000 beneficiaries, irrespective of their place of residence.
Speaking at the launch at Tsito, Mr Bedzrah said the initiative was an expansion of the quarterly community health outreach programmes undertaken over the past decade through his Care Health Foundation.
“By the grace of God, we have been conducting health outreaches for the past 10 years, but this year we decided to upscale the programme by partnering the Ghana Medical Relief (GMR) team from the United States and Canada to provide holistic healthcare services,” he said.
Mr Bedzrah explained that GMR, comprising Ghanaian and international health professionals, had brought medicines, medical equipment and specialist expertise to support the exercise.
He said the team would provide comprehensive healthcare services, including specialist consultations, while patients requiring major surgical interventions would be referred to the Ho Teaching Hospital.
“The team has made arrangements to support the cost of treatment and follow-up through telemedicine,” he stated.
Mr Bedzrah said the outreach would spend three days at Tsito before moving to the Dzolokpuita area for the remaining two days to ensure wider coverage across the constituency.
He announced that all unused medicines and medical equipment brought by the visiting team, including diagnostic equipment, would be donated to the Ho West District Health Directorate after the exercise.
The MP said arrangements had also been made with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to register new members and renew the expired National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards during the outreach.
Mr Bedzrah further disclosed plans to donate laptop computers to health facilities in the district to enhance electronic medical records management.
He also announced the renovation of the Tsibu Health Facility and the commissioning of three new Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds next month.
Mr James Gunu, Volta Regional Minister, commended the initiative and described it as a major contribution towards improving access to healthcare and advancing the Government’s health agenda.
“We are deeply grateful to Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah for his visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to the well-being of his constituents. I also thank the medical teams from America and Canada for sacrificing their time and expertise to serve humanity,” he said.
Mr Gunu noted that the outreach aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Three on Good Health and Well-being as well as key Government healthcare initiatives, including free primary healthcare and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (MahamaCare).
Although the exercise was being conducted in Ho West, he encouraged residents from neighbouring districts to take advantage of the opportunity.
Mr George Kojo Owusu, Volta Regional Director of the Ghana National Ambulance Service, described the donation of the two ambulances as timely and significant.
“These ambulances are more than vehicles; they are mobile emergency rooms that will improve emergency response times, save lives and ensure that no one in Ho West is left behind during medical emergencies,” he said.
He assured the public that the Ambulance Service would immediately deploy trained Emergency Medical Technicians and ensure proper maintenance of the vehicles for continuous service delivery.
Dr Samuel Owusu, President of Ghana Medical Relief, said the organisation had been providing free healthcare services in Ghana since 2018 through partnerships with local communities.
He said the programme brought together healthcare providers, community leaders and volunteers to deliver free healthcare services.
According to him, services being provided include general medical care, obstetrics and gynaecology, urology, dentistry, ear, nose and throat (ENT) care, psychiatry, wound management and other specialist interventions.
Dr Owusu noted that diabetes and hypertension remained among the most common conditions identified during community health outreaches and stressed the importance of health education and counselling in disease prevention and management.
The five-day outreach is expected to improve access to quality healthcare for residents while strengthening emergency medical services in the Ho West Constituency through the deployment of the two newly donated ambulances.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Lydia Kukua Asamoah