In its quest to bring health care services to the doorsteps of the ordinary Ghanaian, Alive Health Check, a new module under the Ghana Youth Employment Entrepreneur Development Agency (GYEEDA), has offered free health screening to over 60,000 residents in the Greater Accra Region.
The new module, which began its services in January 2013 with 200 screening centers across the Greater Accra Region, has screened people for blood pressure, sugar level, malaria, and their body mass indexes.
The National Coordinator, Mr. Fred Frimpong, made this known when he toured some of the centers of the Alive Health Check at Ampao and the Tema station with media personnel.
He stated that the module had also given training to over 1,700 beneficiaries, and resourced them with medical equipment to enable them deliver quality health checks to the general public.
He, however, stated that ‘this module is in fulfillment of government’s commitment to provide free healthcare service to Ghanaians, in order to strengthen the human resource base for maximum development.’
He added that the centers were stationed in markets, lorry parks, ministries and banks.
He further explained that the purpose of Alive Health Check was not just to provide health education to the general public, but also at providing jobs for the youth, especially, those who had wanted to become nurses.
Mr. Frimpong expressed his satisfaction with the results of the public turnouts, and said the module would be rolled out nationwide, and further introduce screening for hepatitis B.
On his part, the head of Alive Health Check technical team, Dr. Joseph Donkor, emphasised that the trainers had been provided with the necessary training and equipment to undertake their tasks professionally.
‘Even though they had three days theoretical training, they have been made to undertake more practicals on the field, and with the kind of equipment they are using, one does not need to be trained for so long. Besides, they are working on guidelines, and we are monitoring them at our various centers.’
He went on to say GYEEDA would soon train pharmacists, so that after screening they would be able to give medications to patrons.
‘What we are doing for now is screening, after which, if one is diagnosed to be having a serious health condition, we refer the person to the hospital,’ he mentioned.
At the time The Chronicle got to the centre at Ampao at 12:00 p.m., Alive Health Check had screened 53 people, with more seated waiting patiently to be screened.
Pix saved in my folder as: Journalists undergoing malaria screening