US navy medical team assist Taviepe community

Taviepe (V/R), Aug. 12, GNA - A team of medical personnel from the United States Navy, on Tuesday ended a two-day medical outreach programme at Taviepe, a farming community near Ho. The programme was a follow-up to an earlier one undertaken last year in collaboration with the 66 Artillery Regiment (Volta Barracks). Community members were medically screened and treated of various diseases with about 1,000 people benefiting from free drugs. Lieutenant Commander Karl C. Kronmann, who led the team, said one major disease that engaged the attention of the medical personnel was a skin disease locally called "Agbamekanu" resulting from the bite of an insect that looked like the mosquito.

He said the team developed a special interest in the community because of the skin disease and that the team had been working with the Ngouchi Medical Research Institute to find solution to the problem. Captain George Dottey, Public Affairs Officer of the 66 Artillery Regiment said the outreach was to further improve the Regiment's military-civil relations. He said the programme would be extended to other communities in the future. People with eye defects were given spectacles. 12 Aug 08