Health News of Monday, 1 November 2010

Source: GNA

Medical outreach saves four-year old boy

Adaklu-Blidokorpe (V/R), Oct. 1, GNA - A medical outreach by the Old Mawuli Students Union (OMSU) at Blidokope, a community in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District, on Saturday saved the life of a four-year-old boy who was critically ill with malaria. Bright Lugudor arrived at the Local Authority Primary School in the village, where the medical team pitched camp, strapped at his mother's back unconscious.

Lugudor, whose condition was treated as an emergency, within minutes, regained consciousness as his tense mother, Mad Victoria Boakye, looked on with delight. The outreach was part of activities to mark the 60th anniversary celebration of Mawuli School in Ho.

Madam Boakye told the Ghana News Agency that the boy had been vomiting for the past three days with very high temperature and said she had no money and had not registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Madam Boakye said on hearing news of the outreach, she trekked, sometimes breaking into trots, for close to an hour from her cottage to get to the health screening venue. She said she had tried to treat her son with some herbs but to no avail and expressed her gratefulness to the organizers of the outreach programme.

Dr. Timothy Letsa, the Volta Regional Director of Health Services, the Leader of the team, said Lugudor's case could have been fatal. He said the commonest ailments in the settler community, a difficult-to- reach area, were malaria and worm infestations. Some 200 children were vaccinated and 406 children and adults screened of various ailments and treated. 01 Oct. 10