By Emelia B. Addae
Koforidua, Feb. 22, GNA – The Ghana Education Service (GES) has been urged to consider implementing the establishment of “health rooms” in primary schools to keep parents informed of their children’s health status.
Mr Godfried Ofoe Caesar, Eastern Regional School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator, GES, who made the call stated that services provided in health rooms, such as health care services provided to pupils by school-based Health Coordinators, as well as health education, would make students see school as their second home and encourage them to attend.
A health room is a place where School-Based Health Coordinators provide temporary care to students who become ill or injured during the school day, as well as many other functions not found in a sick bay. The room is outfitted with a first-aid table, writing desk, chairs, health education materials, book case, dressing basket, plaster, lint, scissors, gloves, beds, mattresses, weighing scale, height meter, veronica buckets, and the rest.
In an interview, he told the Ghana News Agency, “the health room concept for basic schools is not practiced in Ghana; we do not have such as part of our education system, but every Senior High School has a functioning sick bay in the school with Ghana Health Service staff running it.”
However, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service’s SHEP Unit, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sent a few SHEP Coordinators to Japan to study their school health system.
According to him, some SHEP Coordinators in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region, Central and Eastern Regions began to pilot the school health room concept based on this.
Mr Caesar stated that in the Eastern Region, Lower Manya Krobo Municipality was the first to begin the pilot project and now has five functioning health rooms in basic schools where School Based Health Coordinators were trained to operate. Tsledom M/A Basic School, Nuaso Anglican Primary and Junior High School, Samsalo Preparatory School, Our Lady of Fatima School, and Atua St. Paul Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School are among the institutions.
“JICA has supported with beds and other items for the districts that are ready and only waiting to train School-based Health Coordinators so they can also start the operation of the health rooms,” he said.
The districts include Upper West Akim, Abuakwa North, New Juaben South, Asuogyaman, New Juaben North, and Fanteakwa districts.
“The staff at Lower Manya Krobo GES Directorate had been supportive of the health room concept as they helped purchased first – aid kits, beds, mattresses, and pillows,” he said.
“I then appeal to individuals, institutions and benevolent groups to support furnish health rooms in the aforementioned districts.”
Mr Frederick Nortey, School Based Health Coordinator at Tsledom M/A Basic School, stated that the health room pilot project was making a significant difference in the lives of students at the school.
“Currently, a pupil is recovering from a major surgery conducted on him on the leg at the Volta River Authority Hospital in Akosombo,” he said.
“This was detected when the boy visited the school health room.”
He called for frequent training workshop for the coordinators to improve upon their skills.
GNA